Wrong Place, Wrong Time
by tamilnadu09
Summary: Senior year takes a turn for the deadly when Elena Gilbert unknowingly becomes the sole witness to a crime. When the people closest to her begin acting suspiciously, who can she trust? AU/AH. D/E
1. Witness

**A/N: **hope everyone is surviving the hiatus! I've had this fic idea for a few weeks now, and I finally got a chance to write it out. I'm really excited for it! It's my first official AU/AH multi-chapter TVD fic. I usually stick with canon-verse with TVD, but I'm not exactly a fan of the multitude of plot-lines happening on the show this season...so I decided to write this instead ;) Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"I mean, it's just so unfair," Caroline Forbes shut her locker with harder force than was strictly necessary, and her textbooks tumbled out of her hands. She knelt to the ground with a sigh, sending a grateful smile in Matt's direction as he helped her up with an admonishing look.<p>

"Those guys are my friends, Care," he reminded her for the umpteenth time when she continued glaring at the cluster of football players standing down the hall from them. "I know you don't like them, but…"

"But nothing," she snapped, "Those guys get to walk on air around here just because their daddies pay for all the new computers, and the new basketball court, and the new gym, and the—"

"Would you lower your voice?" he interjected, casting a wary glance around them as several people looked in their direction. "No need to broadcast your opinion to half the student body."

Caroline pursed her lips, but reluctantly heeded his warning. "Just last week, I had to turn in a paper a _day _late because I got called into the bar to pick up my _drunk _mother AGAIN and I had to spend the night taking care of her instead of writing that term paper for Ms. Starr. "

"What did you get?"

"She gave me a freaking C- because heaven forbid anyone around here actually has a good excuse for something," she fumed, "Tyler Lockwood gets to turn in his assignments a whole WEEK late for supposedly having practice every night—"

"We did have practice every night last week," Matt said in a soothing tone, which did nothing to appease Caroline's mood.

"So what? You still had time to clock in hours at The Grill—why can't they?"

"Maybe because they don't have to work for a living," Elena Gilbert appeared behind them, looking out of breath. "Hey," she added to Matt, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before she hurriedly turned towards her locker. "I can't believe I had to miss all my morning classes," she muttered, "I got called into work."

Matt frowned, "That's where you were? I've been texting you all morning; I thought you might be sick or something."

"You know Damon doesn't allow us to keep our phones on," Elena shut her locker and glanced down at her watch, "Come on, we're going to be late."

Matt reached out to grab her arm, and turned pointedly to look at Caroline. "We'll catch up with you."

"Whatever," she said distractedly, her gaze flicking over to the cheerleaders making their way down the hall. "I'll see you guys later."

"Doesn't Damon know you have school?" Matt demanded as soon as Caroline was out of earshot, "How could he call you into work?"

"I told him that I needed to pick up extra shifts," Elena pulled her arm out of Matt's grip in annoyance, "Especially now that Jeremy is…" She bit her lip and lowered her voice, "Now that we have to pay for his mandatory therapy sessions."

"Sure, extra shifts _after _school," Matt snapped, "He has no right to call you in at all hours of the day!"

"What's your problem?" Elena hissed back, "You know that we need the money this month—I thought you of all people would understand, given what you went through with Vicki."

Matt's expression tightened for a second as he remembered his sister. After his parents had gotten divorced and his dad had left them with nothing, his mom had quickly descended into bouts of alcoholism while his sister, Vicki, had turned to drugs. One day, she got arrested and was forced to enter rehab. Matt hadn't minded picking up extra shifts and working two jobs if it meant that she was going to get better—and for a while it seemed like she was turning her life around. But then last year, out of the blue, she had OD'd and he had lost her forever.

"I'm sorry," Elena's voice broke through his reverie, "I shouldn't have brought her up. Her situation is nothing like Jeremy's, I don't know why I said that." She looked guilty, "I didn't mean to imply that she was trying to kill herself or anything, I just…"

"I know," Matt said quickly, "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to get so upset. It's just that, Damon…I don't like the guy, Elena. I hate that he always schedules us to work different shifts, and I hate that brother of his even more."

"Stefan?" Elena frowned, "He doesn't even go to the same school as us, how could you possibly hate him?"

"The whole Salvatore family creeps me out," Matt responded flatly, "And I know that your parents were friends with their parents—"

"Until they all died in that car accident," Elena interrupted, "Look, Damon is doing us a favor by letting us work for him. You could be a little more grateful. No one else in this town would ever hire either of us, what with Vicki and Jeremy and..."

"Yeah, the Donovans and Gilberts pretty much have the market cornered on 'bad reputation,'" Matt admitted, "Family, huh?"

Elena's gaze became distant as she nodded grimly, "Family."

* * *

><p>"Sorry I'm late!" she rushed into The Grill, her cheeks flushed as she glanced at the big clock hanging on the wall. "Damn," she groaned, noticing Anna balancing about five plates too many. She hurried behind the counter, where Damon was watching her through narrowed eyes. "Sorry," she repeated, "I know my shift was supposed to start a half hour ago, but—"<p>

"Just go change into your uniform," Damon interrupted, "Anna had to cover your tables...you know how busy it gets here right after school gets out."

Elena ducked her head and nodded before quickly making her way to the employee's room in the back. She fumbled with her locker combination in her haste, and let out a frustrated groan when the lock wouldn't open. "Come on!" she hissed, "I don't have time for this today!"

"First sign of insanity," Anna's voice said from behind her, "Talking to yourself."

"Hey," Elena turned around, "I'm sorry you had to cover my tables. Has it been busy?"

"Isn't it always?" Anna countered, grabbing her things out of her own locker. "Damon told me I could go on break now that you're here. I've been working since you left for school this morning...he really has to hire someone else, this is getting ridiculous."

"You're going on break?" Elena watched her friend pull on her jacket, "But that means that I have to..."

"Cover my tables, yeah," Anna smiled apologetically, "Damon's orders, not my idea." She waved goodbye to Elena and nearly bumped into Damon on her way out.

"You're still not dressed?" Damon demanded as shut the door and stepped more fully into the room. He crossed his arms, "Elena, look, I want to help you out, I really do...Jeremy is a good kid. Stefan and I used to hang out with him all the time before I went away for college. I know things spiraled after the car accident, but..."

"The therapy sessions have been good for him," Elena spoke into the awkward silence that descended between them. "And I know that you're holding off on hiring someone new so that I can have the extra shifts, and I really appreciate it."

"Good," Damon relaxed and cocked his head at her, "So, have you heard back from any colleges yet?"

Elena snorted, "That would be kind of difficult, considering I didn't apply to any."

"What?" he frowned at her, "You're an honors student, Elena. You would've gotten in somewhere."

"We don't have the money right now," she answered simply, letting out a sigh of relief when her locker finally clicked open. "Aunt Jenna is already holding down three jobs just to pay the mortgage on the house, and now there's this whole thing with Jeremy..."

Damon took a step towards her and shoved his hands into his pockets, looking unsure. "Our families were always close, Elena. If you need us to lend you any money—"

"No," Elena shook her head, "You've done enough by letting me work here. In fact, Matt and I were just talking today about how no one else in town would've ever hired us after what happened with Vicki and what happened with Jeremy." She grabbed her uniform out of her locker and gently squeezed his arm, "Seriously, you've done more than enough. Thank you."

* * *

><p>Five hours later, Elena had a pounding migraine. She glanced up at the clock again, relieved to see it was nearing 8 o'clock. Matt would be here soon for the night shift, and she could finally go home and...start her homework.<p>

"Hey, I'm taking off," Anna waved goodbye to Damon, before pausing next to Elena. "I'm not working this weekend, so I'll see you Monday afternoon?"

"I'll be here," Elena confirmed, smiling at her friend curiously, "How come you took the weekend off?"

"My boyfriend is coming up to visit," Anna said excitedly, "I've told you about him, right?"

"Just that he's a senior at NYU," Elena shrugged, "I'm sure you'll have a lot more stories to tell me on Monday."

"Oh I will," Anna winked at her conspiratorially, and let the door swing shut behind her. Elena shook her head in amusement and walked back over to the counter, where Damon was looking at some paperwork.

"Where's Matt?" Damon asked her without looking up, "He's usually here for his shift by now."

Elena frowned as she looked down at her watch. "Yeah, he usually is," she agreed, "Maybe practice ran late?"

"Maybe," Damon glanced up at her weary expression, seeming to consider something for a moment. "Hey, it's a slow night," he offered, "Why don't you take off too?"

"But I usually wait till Matt gets here," Elena protested, "If I leave now, then you won't have anyone to wait on the tables."

"The only people here right now are that elderly couple in the back, and those other two people sitting by themselves," Damon nodded towards the lone customers, "I think I can handle it."

"Are you sure?" Elena hesitated, "I mean, I know I showed up late...I could stay, if you want."

Damon studied her, his eyes unreadable. "You look exhausted," he finally said in a surprisingly gentle tone, "Just get home and rest."

She didn't need telling twice, and she sent him a grateful smile as she went to the back to gather her things.

* * *

><p>Elena pulled her coat more tightly around herself as she stepped into the chilly night air. The wind had picked up substantially from the afternoon, and she found herself regretting that she had parked so far in the back. She quickened her pace when she caught sight of her car, but came to a grounding halt when she heard two raised voices echoing around the parking lot. She recognized one of the voices as Anna's...<em>but what was she still doing here? She had left The Grill at least fifteen minutes ago...It sounded like she was arguing with someone...<em>

Elena wavered with indecision for a moment, wondering if it was her place to interrupt. She took a step in the direction that she thought the voices were coming from, when suddenly a gunshot tore through the air.

She froze in horror, adrenaline spiking her nerves as she whirled frantically around on the spot. She dropped to the ground a second later, inwardly cursing herself for not getting to her car sooner. She crept on her hands and knees towards the nearest car and knelt down next to it, praying that she hadn't been seen. With shaking hands, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and pressed in 911. She let her finger hover over the "send" button and waited a full minute, but all remained silent.

Elena took a deep breath and slowly crawled towards her car, her heart thudding painfully in her chest. The streetlight this far back in the parking lot was out, a mercy for which she was grateful for. The darkness lent a sense of security—if she couldn't see anyone, then maybe they couldn't see her either.

Several seconds later, she had finally reached her car and she let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She reached into her purse for her car keys and quietly slid it into the keyhole, knowing better than to use the automatic unlock feature. She let out another shuddering breath when she unlocked the door and gently pulled it open.

And someone fell out of the car.

Elena screamed, scrambling to her feet. Her phone clattered to the ground, and she screamed again when she recognized Anna's dead body.

"ELENA!"

Footsteps pounded on the gravel and Elena turned wide-eyed to see Damon and his brother, Stefan, running towards her. Several of the customers from The Grill were also there, suddenly all milling around her. There were more screams when people realized what was happening, and someone grabbed her shoulders roughly and shook her. "Call 911!" Stefan shouted, and Elena looked blankly down at her phone which was still lying on the ground.

"Look at me!" someone said urgently, "Elena, look at me!"

It was with great effort that she focused on Damon's face staring at her in concern. His fingers dug into her shoulders then, and she let out an involuntary gasp. "I..." she began to tremble violently, "I heard people arguing, th-then I heard a gunshot..."

"It _was _a gunshot," Damon snapped as he suddenly turned around to look at Stefan, "I knew it didn't sound like a car backfiring!"

"The police are on their way," Stefan knelt down next to Anna's body, looking slightly sick. "Gunshot wound through the chest," he muttered, laying two fingers on Anna's wrist just in case. "No pulse," he sighed as he stood back up to look at Elena. "Are you alright?"

"No," Elena's teeth chattered as sirens wailed in the distance, "I'm not."

* * *

><p><strong>*let the murder mystery commence ;) <strong>


	2. Nightmare

**A/N: **thank you all for the warm welcome back!

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><p>"She was…going to see her boyfriend this weekend," Elena spoke haltingly, looking down at the patterns on the grey carpet. "She was really excited."<p>

"Boyfriend?" Officer Mikaelsen scribbled something down on his notepad, "What's his name?"

Elena continued staring down at the ground, biting her lip as she tried to think, "I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?"

"Officer, is this really necessary?" Damon sounded distinctly angry, "Elena has been through a lot tonight. Can't this wait until tomorrow? She has school in the morning, and—"

"A girl is dead," Elijah interrupted forcefully, "An employee of yours, I might add. So no, this can't wait."

"I've only been working at The Grill for a few months," Elena said in a muted voice, "Anna was a friend, but we weren't close. She didn't talk about her boyfriend much, except to say that he was going to graduate from NYU this year."

"And how long has Anna worked for you?" Elijah addressed Damon, "Did you know this boyfriend's name?"

"I don't usually get involved in the personal lives of my employees," Damon answered stiffly, "I hired Anna about a year ago. You're welcome to see the records."

"Yes, we'll be needing those," Elijah looked up as another officer walked into the room with Stefan in tow. "Well now that we're all here, how about we run through the series of events one more time?"

Damon squinted at the new arrival, "Your name is also Mikaelsen?"

"My brother," Elijah gestured dismissively, "Klaus."

"Alright let's get started," Klaus pulled out his own notepad, "Elena, you said that Anna left The Grill at around 7:50PM?"

She nodded, "Yes. I remember looking at the clock and thinking that it was almost time for my shift to be over."

"So then you left at 8PM?"

"A few minutes after 8PM," Elena glanced at Damon, who nodded to confirm her narrative. "I usually wait until Matt, my boyfriend, gets there for the night shift. But I guess he was running late…Damon told me I could leave, since there weren't that many customers."

"Let's say you exited The Grill at 8:05PM then," Elijah prompted her, "And you began walking to your car. Did you notice anything strange while you were walking? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"I didn't see anyone," Elena swallowed, "It was really cold and windy...I was just focused on getting to my car as soon as possible. But when I neared the back of the parking lot, I heard two people arguing. I recognized one of the voices as Anna's so I stopped." Her voice cracked and she took a deep breath, "I was going to try and find her, but then—"

"And you're sure it was TWO voices?" Klaus interrupted her, "Just Anna's and someone else? Can you describe this voice?"

Elena screwed her eyes shut, rubbing her face tiredly. "The wind was really loud," she mumbled eventually, "It sounded like a man...it was a deep voice, rougher. I think he sounded angry."

"And how did Anna sound?" Elijah pressed, "Scared? Or also angry?"

"Both, I guess," she replied neutrally, letting her fingernails dig into the wooden armrests on her chair. "I didn't hear very much before the...gunshot."

"You're doing great, Elena," Elijah's voice suddenly became noticeably kinder. He stood up and walked to his door, gesturing to someone outside. After a second, he returned with a glass of water. "Do you want anything else? Tea? Coffee?"

She shook her head, raising the glass to her lips with trembling hands. "I'm fine," she said hoarsely, "I just want to go home."

"We'll get back to you in a minute," Klaus said to her, before turning to look at Damon. "So after Elena left The Grill, your brother showed up?"

"Yes," Damon glanced at Stefan, "My brother has football practice after school every day. He comes by The Grill when he's done and does his homework until I close up for the night. Then we drive home together."

Elijah flipped through his notes, "Let's say that Stefan arrived at 8:07PM. You both heard the gunshot?"

"Everyone in The Grill heard it," Stefan cleared his throat, "I thought it was just a car backfiring, but Damon didn't believe me. We both went outside to see what was going on."

"And did you see anything out of the ordinary?"

Damon shook his head, "We didn't see anything, but then we heard Elena scream..." He paused, his jaw clenching, "I started running towards her. I didn't even notice my brother and the other customers following me until we got there."

"Alright, Elena," Klaus sat down across from her, "Now I need you to tell me _exactly _what you did when you heard the gunshot. And I mean every single detail, do you understand? What was your first reaction?"

"I looked around for a second," Elena answered slowly, "And then I got onto the ground, because I didn't want to be a standing-target." She licked her dry lips, "I sort of crawled to the nearest car and waited to see if I could hear anything else...when I didn't, I made my way to my own car."

"Did you stand up at all during this time?"

"No, I stayed on the ground."

Elijah leaned towards her, "Now I need you to remember this for me, Elena. Was your car within your sights for the _entire _time?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said that you were focused on walking towards your car," Klaus reminded her, "Did you have a clear view of it the entire time you were walking towards it? Before and after the gunshot?"

"Not at first," she hesitated, "Since it was so far in the back of the parking lot. I had full sight of it right before I heard the gunshot, and then I was about fifteen feet away from it after the gunshot."

"Okay, so then you crawled to your car and tried to open it with your key?"

"I didn't want to use the automatic unlock feature because then my car would beep and make all this noise and I didn't want to attract the attention of the..." she trailed off, "Of whoever was there."

"And when you pulled open the driver's door..."

Elena suddenly felt very lightheaded and she let her head drop into her hands. "Anna's dead body fell out," she said in a muffled voice, "And I screamed. I remember my phone dropping out of my hand...and then Damon and Stefan were there..."

"She looked like she was in shock," Damon said roughly, "I tried to get her to say something, but she was fighting to stay conscious."

"I told one of the customers that had followed us to call 911," Stefan took over the narrative, "And then I checked for a pulse even though it was obvious that she was...dead."

"How was it obvious?"

Stefan frowned, "Because of the gunshot wound in her chest."

Elijah and Klaus conferred quietly for a few minutes, before Elijah finally turned back towards Elena. "I think we have enough to work with for the moment. The three of you will probably have to come in again tomorrow afternoon, is that okay?"

"I have work," Elena began to say, but stopped when she caught sight of Elijah's expression.

"We'll have to ask you to close down The Grill for a couple days," Klaus said to Damon, who abruptly looked even angrier. "We're going to set up a perimeter around the parking lot in the morning."

"You can't just—"

"It's a crime scene, Mr. Salvatore. We'll be seeing you tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Damon paid the cab driver as they all got out across the street from The Grill. "I can't believe they're taking my car," Elena stared unseeingly at the parking lot, "Not that I'll ever even be able to look at it again, much less get behind the wheel."<p>

"I'll drop you off at your house," Damon led the way to his car and opened the passenger door for her, "I can drive you to school tomorrow, if you want."

Elena waited until he had walked around to the driver's side before answering, "I can just call Caroline or Matt..." She paused suddenly, her eyes widening. "Oh my god, Matt! I totally forgot about him! He never showed up to work, what if—"

"I called him," Damon interrupted, "As soon as the police arrived. He's probably waiting for you to call him back."

"Oh," she absentmindedly patted her coat jacket, before remembering that she had dropped her phone. "Damn," she flopped her head back against the seat, "I think I lost my cell phone."

"I got that for you," Stefan leaned forward from the back seat and held her phone out, "In all the commotion, I figured that you'd forget it."

"Thanks," Elena sighed, not even looking at the seventeen unread text messages. "I can't believe we have to go back to the police station tomorrow." She turned to look out of the window, her eyes filling with tears, "Poor Anna."

Damon pulled in across the street from her house moments later and let the engine idle as he peered through the windshield, "Is your aunt home yet?"

"Jenna? She usually doesn't get home till midnight." Elena unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to see Damon watching her warily. "I'll be fine," she said, correctly interpreting his expression. "Thanks for the ride home."

"Elena..."

"I'll see you tomorrow," she climbed out of the car and waved once at Stefan, "Get home safe." She slammed the door shut and quickly crossed the street, glancing up at the darkened windows of her house. Ever since Jeremy had begun his stay at the treatment center, she had come home to a silent house every night.

She had just unlocked the front door and pushed it open when she heard Damon calling her name. She turned around in surprise to see him jogging towards her. "What's wrong?" she asked, confused, "Did you forget something?"

"I told Stefan to head home without me," Damon held her screen door open, "I'll call a cab once your aunt gets home."

"You don't have to do this, Damon," Elena flipped the light switch on in the living room as Damon shut the door behind him and locked it firmly. "I told you that I'd be fine."

"I know," Damon acknowledged, shrugging casually, "Maybe I wanted some company."

Elena smiled slightly as he took a seat on the sofa and began flipping through a magazine. "What about Stefan? Will he be alright alone?"

"He didn't just witness a murder," Damon put the magazine down so that he could meet her gaze, "Elena, if you want to talk about it..."

"I'm really tired," she said in a harsher voice than she intended, and Damon flinched. "Sorry," she muttered, "I didn't mean that...Thank you for being here, Damon. It really does mean a lot." She fingered her cell phone for a second, already dreading the thought of calling Matt and having to relive the night all over again.

"Do you want me to call him?"

Elena's shoulders slumped forward as she sank onto the sofa next to Damon. "I just don't want to repeat everything again," she whispered wearily, "It was hard enough the first time."

"I'll call him," Damon gently pried the phone out of her hand, not meeting her gaze as their fingertips brushed together. "Why don't you just head to bed? I'll wait here till your aunt gets home."

"A hot shower would be really nice right now," Elena dragged herself to her feet, "Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Thanks again, Damon."

He watched her go upstairs, masking the concern in his expression, "No problem."

* * *

><p>Elena pulled her hair into a ponytail, wincing as she stared at her pale features in the mirror. Even though her body was straining for sleep, she knew that the nightmare of tonight would only be waiting to relive itself within her subconscious. A second later, Damon appeared in the reflection of her mirror and she turned around to see him standing at her doorway. "Hey," she gave him a small smile, "Everything go alright with Matt?"<p>

"I gave him the Cliffnotes version of what happened tonight, and I told him you'd give him a call in the morning." Damon took a step into her room, his gaze darting around to look at the posters on the walls. "I haven't been in here since we were kids," he said with a reminiscing smile, "You always hated me and Stefan."

"That's because you were mean," Elena grinned in spite of herself, "You and Jeremy would always steal my dolls and hide them from me."

"I did no such thing," Damon said in a mock-offended voice, "That was all your brother's idea."

"He was six," Elena countered, "You were the older one."

"Only by four years," Damon sat down on the edge of her bed, "My ten-year-old self wasn't exactly the epitome of matureness."

"As if your 23-year-old self is," Elena teased back, "How you manage to run The Grill is beyond me."

"I'll have you know that they don't just _hand out_ business degrees, Elena," Damon's smile faltered as he added in a quieter voice, "Besides, it's not like I had a choice. That place has been handed down from Salvatore to Salvatore for generations. I think my parents would've rolled over in their graves if I ever sold it."

"You've been doing a good job with it," Elena sat down next to him, "Your parents would be proud."

Damon hesitated, "And _your_ parents would've wanted you to go to college, Elena."

"Not this again," she stood up abruptly, "Damon, I know that the Salvatores are rolling in dough just like every other person I go to high school with—that doesn't mean I want your money!"

He raised both hands in surrender, "Alright, forget I mentioned it." Damon stood up and nodded towards her bed, "Why don't you try to get some sleep? It's almost midnight, your aunt will be home soon." Elena reluctantly pushed the covers aside and sat back against the headboard, glancing at Damon questioningly when he didn't move. "Oh, before I forget," he said suddenly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out her phone. "You might want to charge that, the battery is almost dead."

Elena took it and quickly scrolled through the unread text messages. As she had predicted, they were mostly from Matt asking her if she was alright. There were also a few from Caroline from later in the night, no doubt resulting from Matt telling her what had happened.

"Good night, Elena."

"Night," she responded absentmindedly, now scrolling through the list of missed calls. These were also all from Matt and Caroline, except for...she paused, her mouth growing dry. "Damon, wait."

"What is it?" he walked back into her room, frowning when he caught sight of her expression. "Elena, what's wrong?"

"I h-have a missed call from Anna's phone," she said shakily, "From 8:22PM."

Damon's expression darkened, "But that's after..."

"I know."


	3. Alibi

**A/N: **I love seeing everyone putting all the clues together! (well, there's not that many clues yet, but there will be!)

* * *

><p>"I usually leave practice around 7PM, then I go home and get ready for work," Matt recited, "But yesterday, practice ran late."<p>

Elijah nodded, "What time would you say that you left school?"

"Not until 7:45PM, so I had to drive straight to work if I didn't want to be really late."

"But you never actually arrived at work, is that right?" Klaus flipped through his notes, "Because Mr. Salvatore called you?"

"Well, he sent me a text that said Anna had been murdered and I should go home and wait for news, if I didn't want to be involved."

"Do you still have the text in your inbox?"

Matt nodded and handed over his phone, "Damon sent me the text at 8:12PM. I was a couple blocks away at the time."

Klaus examined the text for a minute, "So you just turned right around and drove home instead?"

"Yeah...I got a call from Elena's phone later that night...around 11PM I think. It was just Damon telling me what had happened. Elena called me this morning and gave me the full story."

"And Elena is your...?"

"Girlfriend."

"How long have you been dating?"

Matt scratched his neck, "Well, I've known her forever...but we only started dating a few months ago." He paused and then added, "When we both started working at The Grill."

Elijah shuffled through some papers before he finally found what he was looking for. "Elena told us that she wasn't very close to the victim, Anna. What about you? Did you know her well?"

"No," Matt shook his head, "Anna always worked during the day and the afternoon. I never got into work until 8PM because I always had stuff to do after school. I knew who she was, but we never interacted."

"So, you wouldn't know the name of this boyfriend that she was going to visit, would you?"

He shook his head again, looking briefly confused. "Can't you just ask her parents?"

Klaus and Elijah exchanged glances. "We haven't been able to track down any family members yet."

* * *

><p>"Family?" Elena frowned, then shook her head once. "Anna never mentioned any brothers or sisters, and she never talked about her parents either." She hesitated, "I thought she was just being kind, given my...situation."<p>

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she shifted uncomfortably, "My parents died in a car crash, along with Damon's parents, a few years ago. And my brother...well, he's been in a treatment facility ever since he tried to commit suicide last month. Before that, he was always in trouble with the cops..." She suddenly remembered who she was talking to, and flushed. "For drug possession and stuff like that," she finished hastily, not meeting Elijah's gaze.

"Yes, Jeremy Gilbert has certainly passed through here a few times," Klaus commented dryly. "He's at a treatment facility now, you say?"

Elena nodded, still not looking up. Elijah moved so that he was standing in front of her, "We were looking at Damon's employee records, and we noticed Jeremy's name on there."

"Yeah, he graduated last year so he spent his summer working at The Grill, trying to save up some money."

"To pay for his...addiction?"

"No," Elena said vehemently, feeling the need to defend her brother, "He was saving up so that I could go to college." As she said the words, she could almost hear Damon's disappointed voice in the back of her mind. "But all that money is gone now, to pay for his treatment."

Elijah changed the subject, giving Klaus a pointed look. "So you didn't work there this past summer? You only started after your brother quit?"

"Yeah, me and Matt both started in September when school started. He had gotten laid off from his other job..." She pursed her lips, growing angry on his behalf even after all these months. "The whole town judged him for what his sister did. Damon was the only one who was able to look past that."

"You and Damon..." Klaus scribbled something down before looking up at Elena, "How would you characterize your relationship? I assume it goes beyond boss/employee, since your families knew each other well?"

"Yeah," Elena cleared her throat, "Well, he and Stefan used to hang out at our house a lot when we were all kids. They were good friends with Jeremy, even though he was a year older than Stefan and four years younger than Damon."

"So, you're the same age as Stefan Salvatore," Elijah frowned, "But you two don't go to the same high school?"

"Stefan goes to Mystic Academy, the private school," Elena explained, "I go to the regular high school."

"Alright," Klaus stood up, indicating they were done with the meeting. "One last thing, Elena. How would you describe your relationship with Stefan and Damon now? After the car accident?"

"We all grew apart after the accident...but Damon has always been there for me and my family. He's done a lot for us...I would've never survived these past few years if it wasn't for him."

* * *

><p>"Yes, Jeremy only worked for me that one summer," Damon snapped, "Which you already know from looking at the employee records, so I don't really understand why you've called me down here."<p>

"Not many people would hire someone like Jeremy Gilbert, given his record."

"I'm not 'many people,'" Damon replied disdainfully. "I've known the Gilberts since we were all kids. I wasn't about to cast them off, just because Jeremy was struggling with his parents' deaths." He paused and then added, "We all were struggling, just in different ways."

Klaus handed Damon a folder, and pointed at two names on the list. "Jeremy and Anna worked together that summer, didn't they? On the same shifts?"

"I guess," Damon answered dismissively, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Is it possible that Jeremy might be able to give us the name of Anna's boyfriend?"

"Hold on a minute," Damon protested, "You guys can't just barge into—"

"We have to cover all our bases, Mr. Salvatore," Klaus interrupted, "If Jeremy has information that could prove useful to this case, then I'm afraid that we're going to have to speak with him."

"Even if he did know, he isn't likely to tell _you_," Damon scowled, "Jeremy doesn't exactly have a fondness for cops."

Elijah cracked a smile, "Not many criminals do."

"He's not a criminal."

Klaus walked around the desk to narrow his eyes at Damon, "You know, for someone who says he doesn't '_get involved in the personal lives of his employees_,' you certainly seem to be fairly invested in them."

Damon raised his head challengingly, but didn't reply.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, Stefan, Elena, Damon, and Matt had all been seated in a small conference room. Elijah and Klaus walked in a moment later, their faces expressionless. "The autopsy report came in," Klaus informed them.<p>

"Let me guess," Damon muttered sarcastically, "She died from the gunshot wound to her chest."

"Be quiet," Stefan hissed at his brother, and then he smiled apologetically at Klaus. "Was there anything out of the ordinary in the report?"

Elijah placed the folder on the desk, but didn't open it. "There was some faint bruising on her wrists, almost like someone had grabbed her. Did you notice these marks while she was at work?"

"No," Damon answered firmly before glancing at Elena, who also shook her head. "We would've noticed if there was."

"Our analysts are working on the blood spatter in Ms. Gilbert's car at this moment. The working theory is that she was already in the car when she was shot."

"What about the gun?" Matt ventured, "Aren't there fingerprints?"

Klaus shook his head, "There was no gun anywhere in the vicinity. Looks like the suspect took it with him."

"What about the cell phone?" Elena asked suddenly, "I told you this morning about the missed call I got from Anna's number."

"We looked into that," Elijah pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Elena. "Anna's cell phone was missing from the list of things recovered at the crime scene. Whoever killed her took that with him, too."

Stefan frowned, "Why would he do that?"

"Probably because he was on Anna's contacts list, or under her recent calls or text messages," Klaus responded grimly. "So far he's been careful, but people like this tend to slip up somewhere. We just have to keep looking; we'll find his mistake, sooner or later."

"Sooner would be better," Damon crossed his arms, "Do you have any ideas for why this guy would want to call Elena?"

"I have a couple theories," Klaus replied slowly, "But you won't like any of them."

Damon raised an eyebrow, "Why wouldn't..." He stopped suddenly, an arrested look crossing his face.

"It's possible that this person knew who Elena was," Elijah said carefully, "Maybe he wanted to scare her, or maybe he didn't mean to call her. We just don't know right now."

Elena looked up to meet Elijah's gaze. "You can just say it, you know," she said numbly, "I know we're all thinking it."

When no one responded, Klaus broke the silence. "My guess would be that whoever killed Anna saw you walking towards your car. Perhaps he even knew that it was _your_ car."

"Does that mean that the killer thinks Elena saw him, too?"

Klaus didn't even hesitate, "Yes."

* * *

><p>"I wish I didn't have to go back to practice," Matt hovered next to his car, looking conflicted. "You could come with me," he said to Elena seriously, "I know you'll be bored, but I don't want you to be sitting at home by yourself...especially since Jenna won't get back for another six hours."<p>

Damon, who had been standing next to his car a few feet away, stepped forward hesitantly. "I hate to interrupt, but..." he turned to look at Elena, "You can just hang out with me and Stefan at our house until Jenna gets home." He gave her a small smile, "It'll be like old times."

Elena sighed, tightening her jacket against the chill of the wind. "Is this how it's going to be now? I'm just going to be under constant watch until this guy is caught?"

"Pretty much," Matt replied without batting an eyelid, "This guy is dangerous, Elena. You shouldn't be by yourself." He glanced at Damon, who nodded in agreement. "So," he prompted, "What'll it be? Do you want to come to practice with me or..."

"I guess I'll just go with the Salvatores," Elena quickly moved forward to give Matt a kiss goodbye. "They live closer to my house, anyway," she smiled, "I'll see you this weekend, right?"

"Sure," Matt agreed, though he didn't look happy with her decision. He clicked his car open, and glanced once at Damon before looking back at Elena, "Be careful."

"I won't let her out of my sight," Damon called back in a teasing tone, though Elena sensed he was entirely serious.

She waved at Matt as he pulled out of the parking lot, and then turned to look at Damon gratefully. "Thank you for saving me from watching hours of those guys running back and forth on a field," she wrinkled her nose, "I can't stand any of them."

"Even Matt?" Stefan grinned, opening the passenger door for her. "Cool, I hate that guy."

"He doesn't like you either," Elena stuck her tongue out at Stefan, "And no, I didn't mean Matt. I meant those other guys on the team...Tyler and Mason Lockwood, especially." She shuddered in disgust as Damon pulled onto the road a minute later. "I don't know why the mayor sends his sons to _public school, _why can't they go to Mystic Academy like every other rich—" She broke off in mortification, and whirled around to look at Stefan. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean—I totally forgot that you—"

"It's okay," Stefan held up a hand good-naturedly, "I know you didn't mean anything by it."

Elena sighed, and sent Damon an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Damon smiled, though it looked strained. A few minutes later, he parked across the street from Mystic Academy and turned to look at Stefan. "Do you want me to pick you up when practice is over?"

"I'll just catch a ride with one of the guys," Stefan hopped out of the car, "I'll see you guys later."

Damon turned to look at Elena once they were back on the road, "So, when's the last time you were even at La Casa de Salvatore?"

"You mean at your mansion?" she smiled slightly, though it didn't reach her eyes. "I don't remember," she admitted, "Not since those dinner parties your parents used to have, I think."

He grinned, "You absolutely despised those dinner parties."

"They were so fancy," Elena complained, "I hated dressing up." She pointed a finger at him, "High-heels are a contraption invented in hell, mark my words." Damon smirked, but didn't respond. A few minutes later, he pulled into the driveway and Elena peered out of the windshield. "Looks just like I remember," she remarked, getting out of the car and looking up at the Salvatore house. "I feel weird being here and not wobbling awkwardly up your steps in a formal gown and heels."

He laughed, "Don't worry, I'm not going to ambush you with a secret dinner party." He unlocked the door with a flourish and waved her in, "Bring back any memories?"

"Yeah," Elena ran her fingers along the walls, "A lot of memories." She made her way into the living room and sank down into an armchair with a soft sigh, "This all feels so familiar."

Damon leaned against the doorway and studied her for a moment. "Just for the record, you always looked gorgeous in your dresses and heels."

Elena rolled her eyes, "Yeah, right. Remember that time I almost tripped in front of all those guests?"

"No," he replied honestly, "You carried yourself with remarkable grace, according to my mother." He grinned, "I think she loved you more than she loved me and Stefan. She always wanted a daughter, you know."

"Really?" Elena asked, surprised. "I didn't know...I was always sort of intimidated by her." Her phone beeped then, and she jumped. She swallowed nervously as she pulled the phone out of her bag and looked at it. "It's just Caroline," she breathed out in relief a second later, letting herself relax. She glanced up at Damon then, to see him looking at her strangely. "I always get scared whenever someone calls or texts me now," she explained quietly, "I mean, what if it's the killer?"

"Hey," Damon strode towards her and took a seat on the coffee table in front of her, "Look at me." When she did, he reached over to take her hand. "You're completely safe here, okay? The cops are going to catch that guy. Nothing is going to happen to you, understand?"

She nodded mechanically, and tried to smile, "I hope they catch him soon."

"You know what? Let's not even look at this anymore," Damon took the cell phone out of her hand and put the ringer on silent before tossing it onto the sofa. "How about you help me cook dinner?"

"Sure," Elena grinned as he helped her up, noticing that he still hadn't let go of her hand, "Though the term 'help' can probably be used loosely."

They continued to banter as they disappeared into the kitchen. Unknown to both of them, Elena's cell phone lit up on the sofa as Anna's name flashed across the screen.


	4. Detective

**A/N: **thank you all for your wonderful reviews!

* * *

><p>Elena woke up in an unfamiliar place, and she immediately felt her heart begin to race in fear. <em>Had she been kidnapped? Was it the killer? Was she in his house? <em>Just when she was on the verge of a major freak out, a gentle voice reached her ears. "Elena? Shh, it's okay. You're at my place, remember?"

She blinked her eyes open and pushed herself up on the sofa, looking at the heavy quilt covering her in bewilderment. "Damon?" she questioned, noticing him hovering above her. "What's going on? What am I doing here?"

"You fell asleep last night," he informed her, as his lips quirked into a smirk. "I guess you had one glass of wine too many."

"Wine?" Elena fully sat up and slowly pulled off the quilt as memories of last night came back to her. "Oh man," she ran her fingers through her straggled hair, "Aunt Jenna is going to kill me."

"I already called her," Damon reassured her, "Last night, to tell her where you were and that you were safe. She was perfectly fine with you sleeping over."

"Oh," Elena blew out a relieved breath, "Thanks, Damon."

"No problem," he stepped back to allow her to stand up. "Now, why don't you go upstairs and shower? There are extra toothbrushes and towels in that cupboard in the bathroom…" Damon turned around as Stefan bounded down the stairs, "And I'm sure my brother can lend you some clothes. You two are basically the same size, anyway."

"Very funny, brother," Stefan shoved Damon backwards as he brushed by him, "What's for breakfast?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," Elena leaned over the banister to grin at Damon teasingly, "Are you going to cook me a feast?"

He glanced up at her, the good humor mirrored in his eyes. "At your service, milady."

She grinned at him once more before disappearing up the stairs. Damon watched her go for a moment, before Stefan abruptly stepped into his line of vision. "I'll just go get started on breakfast then," Damon attempted to sidestep his brother, but Stefan only followed him into the kitchen.

"What happened last night?"

"Last night?" Damon turned away to get eggs out of the fridge, "Nothing happened. Why?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Damon," Stefan crossed his arms, "Elena stayed the whole night?"

"She fell asleep on the couch, and I didn't want to wake her," Damon shrugged, but avoided his brother's gaze. "It's not a big deal."

"I'm pretty sure Matt—you know, her BOYFRIEND—might think it's a big deal that she slept over another guy's house," Stefan said pointedly.

"Nothing happened."

"I believe you."

"Then what's with the third degree?"

"Damon, you cooked her dinner...and now you're cooking her breakfast."

"Actually I'm cooking _both_ of you breakfast," Damon corrected, "Because you're a lazy ass."

"Fine," Stefan raised both hands in surrender, "Let's pretend that you haven't been in love with her forever, and that this is just another normal Saturday morning."

Damon sent a glare in his brother's direction, but dropped the subject for the time being. "Check this out," he said instead, and pulled Elena's cell phone out of his pocket. "She left this on the coffee table…look who she got a missed call from last night."

"Anna's cell number again?" Stefan examined the phone with a frown, "Should we take this to the cops?"

The doorbell rang at that moment, followed by someone banging loudly at the door.

"You better hope that's not Matt," Stefan smirked, waggling his eyebrows. "Though a punch to the face might be just the wake up call you need."

"Just make sure the food doesn't burn," Damon hissed, handing Stefan the spatula before hurriedly making his way towards the front door. He didn't actually think the person on the other side would be Matt, but he felt a vague sense of anxiety anyway. He pulled the door open, only to gape at the sight of a sultry blonde waiting on his doorstep, her trenchcoat pulled tightly around her waist and accentuating the curves in her figure.

"Rebekah," she announced in a bored voice as she held out her hand in his direction, "Pleasure."

"A beautiful woman standing on my porch on a Saturday morning," Damon smiled lazily at her, "The pleasure is all mine."

She didn't crack a smile, "I would advise against making any other ill-advised attempts at flirtation until I've introduced myself. I'm—"

Damon held up a hand to stop her, feeling a headache coming on. "British accent and no sense of humor," he stated flatly, "Let me guess, you're related to Elijah and Klaus."

"Detective Mikaelsen," she confirmed, "I'll be taking over this case."

"Out of curiosity," Damon leaned against his doorway, "Is your whole family into law enforcement?"

"I've even got a brother who's a lawyer," she didn't miss a beat, "Now, enough with the chit-chat. Where's Elena Gilbert?"

"She's not here."

Rebekah shot him an annoyed look, "Don't lie to me, Damon. I've already stopped by her aunt's house, and I know she slept here last night."

He crossed his arms, "It's Saturday morning, Detective. Elena has been through a lot this week, and she's already talked to the police twice. I don't see why this can't wait."

She merely raised an eyebrow, "Have her best interests at heart, do you?"

"Damon?" Stefan's voice called, and he turned around to see his brother walking towards them in confusion. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"

"Ah, Stefan Salvatore I presume," Rebekah brushed past Damon without further invitation, "You're the younger brother?" When Stefan only continued to look baffled, she went on as though he had answered her question. "18 years old, senior at Mystic Academy," she recited, "You arrived at The Grill minutes before the shooting took place, is that right?"

"Well," Damon shut the door and turned to face her, "You've certainly done your homework, haven't you?"

"It's my job, Mr. Salvatore," Rebekah's eyes flared for a second, "And I'm very good at what I do." Almost as an afterthought, she suddenly looked around, "So, where's Elena?"

"She's upstairs, showering," Stefan answered before narrowing his eyes, "Does she have to go into the station again? Did you guys find out anything new about the killer?"

Rebekah looked vaguely amused and glanced at Damon,"I see...You're not the boyfriend, are you?"

Since he knew very well that she knew the answer to this question, he didn't bother responding. "Why don't you have a seat?" he said through gritted teeth, "I'm sure she'll be down soon."

Without waiting for her response, he strode back into the kitchen. "Stefan, do you want to pour three glasses of..." Damon trailed off when he noticed that two people had followed him into the kitchen, instead of just his brother. "I believe I told you to wait in the living room, Detective."

Rebekah didn't bat an eyelid as she glanced at the three plates laid out on the kitchen table, "You've been taking quite good care of her, haven't you?"

It was the way she said it, with barely concealed insinuation, that had Damon's temper flaring. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing at all," she strode towards him until she was inches away from his face, "I'm just doing a thorough job, that's all."

His hands clenched into fists, "Oh, are you?"

"There isn't a single case that's come across my desk that I haven't been able to solve," she breathed, not backing down even when he took another step forward. "That's not going to change."

"Damon?"

He whirled around at the sound of Elena's voice, and his throat grew dry when he saw what she was wearing. "I hope you don't mind," she tugged self-consciously at the oversized UVA sweatshirt so that it covered more of her skin-clad legs. "It was the first thing I saw in your closet, so..." She shrugged, but didn't take her eyes off Rebekah, "I didn't know you were having company."

Stefan sent a knowing look in Damon's direction before sparing him from explaining. "This is Rebekah...she's going to be the detective working on this case."

"I believe you've already spoken to my brothers, Elijah and Klaus," she said to Elena, shaking her hand firmly. "That's something we have in common, you and I."

"What?" Elena frowned, "Having a brother?"

"Yes," Rebekah gestured for Elena to sit down, "See, we have reason to believe that Jeremy might be able to give us some useful information on Anna's background."

"Let me get this straight," Elena's voice became sharper, "Are you asking my permission to go talk to Jeremy? Listen, Detective, my brother tried to commit suicide a month ago. He's not in any position to be questioned by you, or anyone else. Do we understand each other?"

"I'm not asking your permission, Elena," Rebekah responded calmly. "This is a murder investigation, and I'll be speaking to Jeremy regardless of where he is. I am merely here as a courtesy."

"A courtesy?" Damon snapped furiously, "You barged into my home to ambush Elena, and you have the nerve to—"

"Alright, everyone just calm down," Stefan said loudly, shooting his brother a reproachful look. He then turned towards Rebekah and folded his arms, "Is there anything that any of us can say that will change your mind?"

"No," Rebekah stood up, "There is not." She began to leave the room, but paused on the threshold to glance back at Elena. "I'm going to drive back to the station to get some files. If you would like to join me when I question your brother, meet me outside the treatment facility in an hour."

* * *

><p>Rebekah pursed her lips in annoyance as the elevator slowly brought them up to the fourth floor. "Just for the record," she hissed under her breath, "I only invited Elena to join me."<p>

"And I invited them," Elena replied simply, sending a small smile in Damon and Stefan's direction. "They haven't been able to visit Jeremy since he got in here. I thought it would be good for him to see some old friends."

"Go on then," Rebekah paused outside Jeremy's room and nodded for Elena to go ahead of her, "I can wait outside for a moment."

Surprised by the gesture, Elena threw Damon a bewildered look before knocking quietly on the door. "Jer? Can I come in?"

"Hey!" her brother's face broke out into a wide smile when he saw Damon and Stefan standing behind Elena, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Just visiting," Stefan said easily, flashing a grin at Jeremy and tossing himself into the nearest armchair. "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright," Jeremy glanced up at Elena, and she didn't miss the questioning look in his gaze, "What's going on?"

She hesitated, "It's a long story."

He spread his arms outwards to indicate the room, "I ain't going anywhere, sis."

Haltingly, with Damon and Stefan's help, Elena told him what had happened on Thursday night and the events that had followed. Ten minutes later, she ended with, "So this detective showed up at the Salvatore house this morning. She, ah, wants to ask you a few questions."

"Come here," Jeremy requested, and immediately enveloped her in a hug when she was within arms' length. "Thank god you're okay," he whispered into her hair, "God, Elena. Why didn't you tell me all this earlier?"

"I didn't want to worry you," she replied honestly, "In fact, I didn't want you involved in this at all." She sighed, "I tried to keep the cops away from you, Jer, but..."

"But I'm a difficult woman to dissuade," Rebekah entered the room on that note, a warm smile on her lips. It was such a contrast to her attitude from the morning that Elena was taken aback. "Allow me to introduce myself," she said charmingly to Jeremy, "Detective Mikaelsen." She dragged one of the chairs near the bed and perched on it casually, "I assume your sister has told you what's been going on?"

"Yeah," Jeremy hesitated, clearly not knowing what to make of Rebekah. "Why do you guys think I know anything about it? I've been in here for the past month."

"We know," she reassured him, "But Damon's employee records indicate that you worked at The Grill this past summer...with Anna? Did she ever happen to mention the name of her boyfriend?"

"You mean Cole?" Jeremy's expression deepened with dislike, "I never met the guy. Why? You think he has something to do with this?"

Rebekah's eyes widened for a split second, but when Elena looked at her more closely, she looked completely composed. "Did you...did she ever tell you his last name?"

"No."

"Okay," Rebekah nodded and stood up abruptly, "I think that's all we need from you right now. I'll let you know if I have any more questions for you." She quickly made her way to the door, and paused only to say, "Thank you for your time, Jeremy. You've been most helpful."

Damon frowned after her and turned to look at Elena, "What was that all about?"

* * *

><p><strong>*and the mystery deepens ;)<strong>

**P.S. Cole = Kol (I wanted to modernize it for this fic). **


	5. Suspect

**A/N: **thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes and the reviews! I'm on spring break for the week so expect frequent updates! ;)

* * *

><p>"Thank you for taking the night off work," Elena sighed as she snuggled into her aunt's shoulder. "We haven't done movie night in…well, in forever."<p>

"Of course, sweetie," Jenna adjusted the blanket around them and absently stroked Elena's hair. "You've had a rough couple days. I didn't want you to be alone tonight." She reached over to the coffee table and picked up the large bowl of popcorn, settling it between them on the sofa. "I would say it's too bad that Matt had to work tonight, but then we wouldn't have gotten our girls' night in so I guess it all worked out for the best!"

Elena smiled in response and thoughtfully chewed on a popcorn kernel before responding, "Yeah, the cops gave Damon the go-ahead to reopen The Grill after he complained about how much business he was going to lose by being shut down on a Saturday night."

"Is Matt the only one working tonight?" Jenna frowned, "Well, I guess he must be, it's not like Damon has any other employees…"

"He's looking for someone to hire," Elena sighed heavily, "He was holding off before since I wanted to pick up the extra shifts, but with Anna gone…"

"Let's not talk about work," Jenna broke in hastily, looking guilty. "I'm sorry I brought it up," she quickly changed the subject, "So, how was visiting Jeremy today?"

A smile immediately lit up Elena's face, "Jeremy was doing really well. I think he was happy to see Damon and Stefan…I'm glad they came with me."

"They're the good ones," Jenna agreed with a small smile, glancing at her niece out of the corner of her eye. "How was last night? Being in the Salvatore house must've brought back a lot of memories."

"It did," Elena nodded slowly, "But they were actually pretty good memories."

"I'm glad," Jenna chuckled to herself, "I was more than a little surprised when Damon Salvatore called me last night and told me you had fallen asleep at his place. I don't even remember the last time you saw Damon or his brother outside of work."

"It's been a while," Elena acknowledged, "But when I was there, it was like…" She struggled to find the words to describe what she had felt. "It was like no time had passed at all," she said finally, "It was so easy to fall back into that familiar pattern of being around them. It was nice."

Jenna began to say something else, but she was interrupted by someone knocking on the front door. "That's strange," she tensed slightly, "Who could that be?"

Elena glanced at the clock, her adrenaline spiking when she saw that it was nearly 11 PM. "I don't know," she stood up, her hand instinctively reaching for her cell phone before she called out loudly, "Who is it?"

"It's me," a familiar voice called back, "Stefan."

"Oh," Elena let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and hurried to open the door. "Hey," she sent him a bright smile, which she was pretty sure he saw straight through. "Come on in," she added, ushering him into the house. "I wasn't expecting you to drop by. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Stefan stepped into her house and cleared his throat apologetically when he saw Jenna's expression. "Sorry," he sent a sheepish smile in Elena's direction, "I didn't mean to scare you. I should've called first."

"No, no," Jenna stood up and gave him a warm hug, "You're always welcome here, Stefan. Elena and I have just been on edge since…well, you know."

"Since Anna's murder," Elena said quietly, and even though her voice shook, she didn't flinch. "You guys can say it, you know. I'm not going to run away screaming. I can handle it."

"Well, speaking of her murder..." Stefan segued into the topic a little awkwardly, "That's why I'm here."

Elena waited, but he didn't say anything else. "What about it?" she prompted, shifting from foot to foot nervously. "Did something else happen?"

"No," he shook his head, but still hesitated. "I was just at The Grill, and Damon said...well, Matt and I agreed with him actually...but we think that we should hire a private investigator for this case." He paused and then said significantly, "Someone outside the police department. Preferably someone not from Mystic Falls at all."

"What?" Jenna straightened, her eyes narrowing. "What brought this on? Why do you think we need a P.I?"

Stefan turned to look at Elena, "You saw the way Rebekah acted today when Jeremy spilled the name of Anna's boyfriend. There was a flash of recognition in her eyes...I know I can't be the only one who saw it."

Elena chewed on her bottom lip, thinking carefully. "I thought I saw something in her expression when Jeremy said the name 'Cole' but it was gone so fast that I wasn't sure what I saw, or if I saw anything at all."

"Because that's part of her job," he pointed out, "Masking her emotions and all that. Damon doesn't trust that everyone we've spoken to about this case so far has been a Mikaelsen. He thinks it's time to bring in a fresh perspective...someone who's not connected to this case yet."

"Like who?" Elena asked tiredly, "We don't exactly have the money for a P.I, Stefan."

He swiftly glanced away from her then and mumbled something about Damon.

"What was that?"

"Damon wants to pay for it," Stefan repeated in a slightly louder voice, his gaze flicking up to meet Elena's once before he looked quickly back down at the floor again. "I think he's already looking through some of our father's past contacts."

Jenna cut in before Elena could say anything, "Tell Damon that's very generous of him...but we can't accept that kind of favor, Stefan. I don't know when we'll be able to pay him back, and I already have enough debts hanging over my head."

"It wouldn't be a debt," a different voice said from the door, and Elena looked up to see Damon standing there. "I closed The Grill early," he explained as he walked in and carefully locked the door behind him. "And I saw Stefan's car parked outside—"

"Yeah, because you sent him over here to plead your case," Elena accused, crossing her arms. "You knew I wouldn't have accepted your offer to pay for everything so you sent your brother here to deliver the news? The answer is still 'no' Damon."

He turned to look at his brother in exasperation, "Did you not explain everything correctly?"

"I did," Stefan complained, "I told them everything you told me to, but they still don't want—"

"Charity?" Elena supplied, causing Damon to groan in annoyance. "I know that's not what it is," she went on quickly, holding up a hand to stop him from cutting her off. "And I know you just want to help, but that's not what it feels like."

"Well excuse me if I don't take your _feelings _into account right now, Elena," Damon snapped, his voice uncharacteristically harsh. "A girl is dead, there is a killer on the loose, the entire police department may or may not be part of some conspiracy, and to top everything off—"

"Being dramatic is not helping your case," Elena interrupted coldly, "You might be making a big deal out of nothing."

Damon closed his eyes briefly and then walked towards her, resting both hands on her shoulders gently. "Or I might be making a big deal out of _something_."

Elena felt her anger dissipate when she heard the sincerity and concern in his voice, and she sighed. "You've already called someone, haven't you?"

He had the decency to at least look partly chastised. "How did you know?"

"You wouldn't be pushing this hard to convince me, if you hadn't," Elena replied with a resigned smile. "So," she looked at him expectantly, "Who is it?"

For some reason, Damon looked evasive. "Just an old friend of my father's. Do you think you can come by my place around 10AM so we can all meet?"

"On a Sunday morning?" Elena huffed, "But it's my only day to sleep in!"

"I'll make you breakfast again," he cajoled, "Just like this morning. What do you say?"

She pursed her lips as she pretended to consider his words. "You'll have to pick me up," she said finally, "No way in hell am I waking up that early and walking to your place."

"Stefan can just leave his car here," Damon offered casually, "Or I can drive you back to my place now and you can sleep over again. Your choice."

Elena was taken aback, and she exchanged a startled look with her aunt. "I'll drive the car back, I guess..." She turned to look at Stefan, "Are you sure you won't need it?"

"I barely drive it anyway," he reassured her, "Feel free to use it whenever you want."

In the silence that followed, Jenna stood up and stretched, making sure to yawn loudly for effect. "It's getting late, and I have work in the morning," she announced, "I think I'll just head to bed." She smiled at Elena's disgruntled expression, "You kids have fun now."

"We will," Damon said cheerfully, waving at Jenna's retreating back. "Good night." Then he turned to Elena with a winning smile, "So, what are we watching?"

"_The Notebook_," Elena retorted, "And then _The Vow._"

Damon winked, "Can't wait."

She rolled her eyes, scrutinizing his expression. "I know you," she stated, "You didn't stop by just to tell me that you hired a P.I. What else is it?"

"Okay," he hesitated, "You're right, there's something else." Damon glanced at his brother before turning back to Elena, "I hired two new waitresses today."

"Two?" Elena's heart sank, "But I..." She bit her tongue before she said anything else. He had been doing her a favor by giving her extra shifts. She had no right to stop him from hiring new people to pick up the slack. "Great," she forced a smile onto her face, "Do I know them?"

"The waitress I hired for the morning shift—while you're all at school—just moved to town a couple weeks ago. Apparently she saw the Help Wanted sign I put up in the window and immediately came in." Damon shrugged, "She dropped out of college after some money problems, so I figured I'd give her a shot."

Elena smiled in spite of herself. Where the rest of the town saw a lost cause, Damon would always be the one handing out second chances. "That's what I like most about you," she said without thinking, and then flushed when both Damon and Stefan looked at her strangely. "What's her name?"

"Alexis," he answered vaguely, sounding distracted. "And then I hired your friend Caroline to help Matt out for the evening and night shift."

"Caroline?" Elena frowned, "She didn't tell me she was looking for a job."

"Matt mentioned that she was looking for one," Damon shrugged, "So I thought I'd give her a trial run. They'll both start on Monday."

Elena nodded, and then changed the subject. "Thanks for coming down to see Jeremy with me today. I think he really enjoyed seeing the both of you."

"Anytime," Stefan said seriously, "We've missed hanging out with him, too."

"I usually visit him a couple times a week," Elena smiled, "You guys should come along next time."

"We would love to," Damon plopped down next to her and threw an arm around the back of the couch. "So, really, what are we watching?"

Elena was about to answer, when the house phone suddenly rang loudly and caused them all to jump. "It's like midnight," Stefan said anxiously, "Who's calling you at this time of night?"

Before Elena could answer the phone, it stopped ringing. She frowned and started towards the staircase, "Aunt Jenna? Did you get the phone?"

There was a soft thump from upstairs, followed by Jenna shouting, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? How could that happen?"

"Aunt Jenna?" Elena sprinted up the stairs, not even noticing that Damon and Stefan were following her until she skidded to a halt on the threshold of Jenna's room. "What's going on?" she asked wildly, "What happened?"

Jenna was holding the phone in one hand, her eyes wide with fear. "It's the treatment center," she said shakily, "Jeremy is missing."


	6. Missing

**A/N: **a little shoutout to dutchtreat and scarlett2112 for their ideas on who the P.I. should be ;)

* * *

><p>Elena looked up, startled, when a cup and saucer suddenly appeared in front of her face. Stefan was hovering in front of her, looking supremely uncomfortable. "I, ah, thought you might like some tea."<p>

She blinked, feeling as though she was hearing and seeing things from behind a thick wall of fog. "Thank you," she said slowly, mechanically taking the cup out of his hands and raising it to her lips. It was scalding hot, but she didn't notice as she swallowed a mouthful and quickly placed the cup and saucer on the coffee table in front of her. As she glanced back up, she caught sight of Damon watching her carefully. "So..." she cleared her throat, "When's this private investigator getting here?"

Damon raised an eyebrow and turned towards the window as they all heard the crunch of gravel in the driveway. "Right about now, it would seem. I'll go see if he needs help with his bags." He got up and disappeared into the hallway, and Elena distinctly heard the sound of the front door open as Damon stepped out onto the porch.

"Bags?" Elena turned to look at Stefan questioningly, "Is the P.I. staying here?"

"He's an old family friend," Stefan explained, getting to his feet as voices emanated from the hallway. "Damon would've never let him stay anywhere else."

"Back here after so many years," an unfamiliar voice commented from just beyond the room, "Not much has changed, has it?"

"My brother and I have kept the house more or less the same since our parents passed away," Damon answered, and Elena looked up as two people entered the living room. "You remember my younger brother…"

"Good to see you again," Stefan stepped forward and shook hands with the man standing next to Damon. "Allow me to introduce you to—"

"Elena Gilbert," she surprised herself as she got to her feet and held out her hand, "I've heard so much about you." Then she paused and shook her head, "Well, actually I haven't...but any friend of Damon's is a friend of mine."

"That's good to hear," the P.I. gave her a friendly smile, and she was suddenly struck by how young he looked. He surely had to be older than Damon, but the rugged handsomeness of his college days still clung to him, giving him an almost trustworthy aura. "Alaric Saltzman," he announced to her in a clear voice, shaking her hand firmly. "And unlike you, I can honestly say that I've heard quite a few things about you." He glanced at Damon out of the corner of his eye and amended, "All good things, of course."

"Of course," Elena shot Damon a curious look, and then tilted her head at the pair in front of her. "So," she prompted, "How do you two know each other?"

"Damon and Stefan's father helped me out a lot back in the day, when I was struggling to stand on my own two feet, so to speak." Alaric clapped Damon on the back, "You could say that I'm sort of indebted to the Salvatores."

"No debt, my friend," Damon gestured for Alaric to take a seat, "Can I get you a drink?"

"Well," Alaric hedged, "Technically I guess I'm on the clock..."

Damon smirked, "How about we make an exception just this once?"

Stefan rolled his eyes and leaned in to whisper in Elena's ear, "This is just their routine. You'll get used to it."

"Just this once," Alaric allowed, amusement coloring his tone. Elena looked between their expressions, and understood what Stefan meant by "routine." Perhaps Damon and Alaric were closer friends than she had initially thought...

"You guys do know it's not even noon yet, right?" Stefan called over his shoulder as he disappeared into the kitchen, "I'm going to get more coffee like a _normal _person."

"Being normal is overrated," Alaric said matter-of-factly as he turned to look at Elena, "Am I right?"

She paused, thrown off guard by his oddly cavalier attitude. "Sure," Elena frowned, "Look, Mr. Saltzman—"

"Please," he held up a hand to stop her, "Call me Ric."

"Okay," she folded her hands in her lap and took a deep breath, "Ric. My brother went missing from his treatment facility last night, and we've already reported it to the police but Damon thinks that they're all in on some sort of conspiracy and maybe they are, I don't know...And now I don't know what to do because it's Jeremy, and he was getting better, and I know he wouldn't have just run off—" Her voice had become increasingly hysterical, and she broke off as she ran out of air. In the stunned silence that followed, she said in a quieter voice, "I'm sorry."

Alaric leaned towards her, his expression calm and collected. "You have nothing to apologize for, Elena," he said in a surprisingly gentle voice. "I know you're worried about your brother, and you have every right to be suspicious of the way the police department is handling this case. Damon filled me in on everything that's happened since last Thursday night, and I wrote up all my notes on the plane ride over here."

"I took your things upstairs," Stefan said when he noticed Alaric looking around, "In one of the guest rooms. Do you want me to bring your laptop back down?"

"No, I'll get it," Alaric stood up and glanced at Elena, "I know how hard it can be to keep going through the same gruesome details over and over again, especially when all you want to do is forget what happened and move on with your life...but would you mind going through the files I've made based on what Damon has told me? You can let me know if anything is missing, or if there are any other details that you think are relevant..."

Elena nodded her head once, her voice taking on a steely tone, "Anything to help find Jeremy and put Anna's killer behind bars."

* * *

><p>Alaric stood in the kitchen, staring at the cabinets while he thoughtfully sipped at his mug of coffee. After a few minutes, he heard loud footsteps join him and he smiled slightly without turning around. "You would make a terrible criminal, Damon."<p>

"Good thing I never tried to be one then," Damon quipped, throwing himself into one of the wooden chairs at the kitchen table. "Besides, I wasn't _trying _to sneak up on you." He shrugged, glancing up as Alaric finally turned around to face him. "You've been in here so long 'making a fresh pot of coffee' that Elena thought you had passed out in an alcoholic stupor."

Alaric grimaced, "She thinks I'm an alcoholic already? But _she's_ the teenager, shouldn't she be all about the day-drinking?"

Damon half-grinned, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "She's not your average teenager," he said in a low voice, "She doesn't get those moments to break loose and have fun. If she's not working, then she's at school, or taking care of Jeremy, or helping her aunt pay the bills. After her parents died...she had to grow up fast."

"You sound impressed."

"Because it's impressive," Damon looked up, challenge mirrored in his eyes, "Don't you think so?"

"Oh, I'm not arguing," Alaric replied, watching his friend's expression closely. "She's clearly very special...I'm guessing that she doesn't know about—"

"She's completely unaware of our past dealings," Damon interrupted, lowering his voice even further and casting a wary glance at the door. "And I'd like to keep it that way, if you don't mind."

"As you wish," Alaric tapped his fingers absentmindedly along the table in front of them, "Say, what do you think about Matt Donovan?"

"What about him? I told you that he wasn't even at the crime scene," Damon answered dismissively, "The police already questioned him."

"Well, now I want to question him."

Damon frowned incredulously, "Why?"

"I just want to cover all my bases," Alaric responded casually, "Oh, and I'd like to speak to the two new waitresses you hired as well. When did you say they start? Tomorrow?"

"Okay, they definitely don't have anything to do with this!" Damon exclaimed, "Ric, what are you getting at?"

"I'm just trying to do the job that you brought me here to do," Alaric replied, getting to his feet and giving Damon a pointed look. "Come on, I think it's time we went down to the treatment facility and got some answers."

* * *

><p>"What the hell is this?"<p>

Damon winced as Rebekah's sharp voice rang through the air. He turned around halfheartedly to see her stomping towards them, her hair flying around her shoulders as her high heels clicked furiously on the tiled floor. "Detective," he drawled, a mask of indifference slipping over his features. "Fancy seeing you here."

"You hired a private investigator?" she hissed, stepping closer to him than was necessarily professional. "Why are you trying to impede this investigation?"

"Nothing wrong with getting a fresh set of eyes to look over the evidence, Detective," Alaric announced, walking towards them nonchalantly. "We all want to find Jeremy, don't we?"

Rebekah pursed her lips, her expression becoming haughty. "I suggest you stay out of our way, Mr...?"

"Saltzman," he said brightly, "Alaric Saltzman. And don't worry, Detective, I have no intention of stepping on any toes around here. I'm just here to make sure that Elena's brother is found as soon as possible—and of course, Anna's killer."

"Right," she said coldly, shooting daggers at Damon as she flounced away. He followed her with his gaze to see who she would speak to, and felt a vague sense of satisfaction he saw her make a beeline for Klaus.

"So the Mikaelsens are a friendly bunch," Alaric said under his breath as they both watched Rebekah and Klaus conferring with angry gestures. "Didn't you say there was another brother?"

"Yeah, Elijah," Damon looked around the lobby once, "Maybe he didn't come."

"Maybe," Alaric agreed, though he didn't seem convinced. "Come on," he nodded to Damon, "Let's go look at those security tapes."

Elena gave them a strained smile as they passed her, and Damon paused. "Do you want to come look at the tapes? Apparently the cops already looked at them, but maybe we can catch something they missed?"

She shook her head, "The receptionist told me that Jeremy's therapist will be free to talk soon. I'd rather wait out here so I can catch her before she leaves."

Alaric frowned, "When was the last time he spoke to this therapist?"

"A week ago," Elena shrugged tiredly, "But I've talked to her before, and I just..."

"Okay," Damon glanced over his shoulder to see where his brother was, "Stay close to Stefan. We'll be back soon."

Elena nodded and made her way towards Stefan, who was sitting in one of the waiting chairs on the other side of the room. "I just feel so useless," she grumbled to him, "I mean, my brother is _missing _and there's nothing I can do about it!"

"You're doing everything you can," Stefan said to her in a soothing voice, "Look, don't worry, alright? We'll find him."

"Hey," she straightened as she caught sight of Jeremy's therapist across the room. "That's her," she whispered, "Rose."

"Isn't that Klaus that she's talking to?"

"Yeah," Elena responded grimly, "I'll be right back." She had just started walking towards Rose, when suddenly Elijah stepped in her path.

"Ms. Gilbert," he said pleasantly, "My sister informs me that you have hired a private investigator for your case?"

She hesitated, but didn't see the point in lying if he already knew the truth. "Yes," her gaze flickered up to meet his, "I just want to find my brother."

"I assure you, Elena," Elijah's voice remained steady, despite her obvious attempts to sidestep a conversation. "We are doing everything we can to find Anna's killer."

"I know you are," she tried to smile to alleviate the tension, but Elijah's expression remained stoic. "Mr. Saltzman is a friend of Damon's," she said finally, "And he wanted to lend a hand."

"I just want to make sure that the evidence remains intact," Elijah took a step closer to her, lowering his voice. "This investigation is—"

"Elena?" She turned around to see Damon approaching her, not looking particularly pleased. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," she faltered, "Elijah was just letting me know how the investigation is going."

Damon placed a hand on her arm to steer her away, "Didn't you want to speak to Jeremy's therapist?"

She nodded, allowing Damon to lead her in Rose's direction. "Did you find anything on the security tape?"

"No," he frowned, "There's no way Jeremy managed to slip out on his own. He had inside help, or someone on the inside was helping whoever kidnapped him."

"Someone on the inside?" Elena stopped walking, her eyes growing wide as she turned to look at Damon. "Wait, you think someone that works here might have had something to do with this?"

"That's what Alaric thinks."

"I also think that those Mikaelsens have something to hide," Alaric appeared next to them, throwing a suspicious look in Rebekah's direction. "I want to find out why they're so protective of this case. Based on what you three have told me, that Detective definitely had some sort of reaction to the name Cole..."

Damon exchanged a look with Elena, "What are you thinking?"

Alaric continued watching the Mikaelsens through narrowed eyes, "I think I'm going to go on a little scavenger hunt...Let's see if we can find out what the missing connection is..."

* * *

><p><strong>*yay for Alaric being smart! =P <strong>


	7. Investigation

**A/N: **I'm glad everyone was excited about the inclusion of Alaric as the P.I! He's definitely become one of my favorite characters recently (and he was badass in yesterday's episode!)

* * *

><p>For once, Elena strode through the double doors of the school at a leisurely pace. She wasn't running late, she hadn't forgotten her homework, and she wasn't a complete mess. As she neared her locker, however, her pace slowed and she narrowed her eyes. From the looks of things, Caroline had just dropped a textbook and was crouching down to pick it up when Tyler Lockwood and his crew (Matt excluded) walked past. Elena quickened her pace instinctively then, but Tyler had already kicked the textbook halfway down the hallway, his raucous laughter echoing in her ears.<p>

The book came to a halt at Elena's feet and she glared at the football team as they continued walking towards her. She felt a grim sense of satisfaction when Tyler's expression flickered briefly as he caught sight of her. As Matt's girlfriend, she had a certain place amongst them—they didn't outright antagonize her, and she didn't tell Matt about everything they got up to when he wasn't around.

Mason Lockwood, who was standing behind Tyler, raised an eyebrow at her. "Aren't you going to pick that up, Gilbert?"

"No," she said firmly, crossing her arms and turning to look at Tyler, "Your asshole brother is going to pick it up, isn't that right?"

Tyler met her gaze seriously for a moment before breaking out into a lazy grin, "In what world do you think that _I_, of all people, would take orders from _you_?"

They were starting to attract the attention of some of the other people in the hallway, and a semi-crowd began to form. Elena turned around to see Caroline watching the scene with wide eyes. When she saw Elena look at her, she frantically shook her head, mouthing the words, "Let it go."

"No," Elena replied back in an even tone, "Tyler—"

"What's going on here?"

Her heart sank when she saw Matt making his way towards them, looking haggard. His voice was weary, and Elena bit her lip. A sore point in their relationship had always been his closeness to Tyler and the rest of the guys on the football team who treated the majority of the student body like dirt. It was a fight they'd had repeatedly, until they had all come to a reluctant and uneasy ceasefire. Unwilling to rehash old wounds, Elena took a deep breath to take the blame, "No big deal, it's my—"

"My fault," Tyler said suddenly, surprising everyone standing around them. He knelt down and picked up the book, handing it graciously over to Elena. "Sorry," he added to her, and she frowned when she caught the ounce of sincerity in his voice. Either he was a good actor, or…well, that had to be it.

"Thank you?" Elena stepped away hesitantly, not really knowing what had just happened. "You alright?" she whispered to Matt, kissing him on the cheek quickly and waiting until he nodded. "Alright, I'll let you catch up with the guys," she gave him a tense smile, "I'll be with Caroline."

The minute she reached her friend, however, Caroline snatched the book away from her. "Why are you trying to cause problems?" she hissed, "You didn't need to create a huge scene in the middle of the hallway with the freakin' football team! They're jerks, so what? News flash, Elena, they will ALWAYS be jerks. You don't have to—to defend my honor or whatever it is that you think you were accomplishing by standing up to them!"

Elena's mouth dropped open as she gaped speechlessly at Caroline. "Are you kidding?" she finally demanded when she found her voice. "We've hated those over-privileged morons forever! You're the one that's always saying you wished you could say something to them! Just because we're not on the same rung on the social ladder as them doesn't mean that I'm going to sit back and take their bull forever." She scowled, "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing," Caroline snapped, "I just don't want you getting involved in something that's not your fight."

"Its my fight, too," Elena insisted, "It always has been."

"Oh please," Caroline turned to look at her then, her smile too bright and her eyes sparkling a little too much. "You're Matt's girlfriend! Those guys would never treat you the same way they treat me, or anyone else that they hate, and you know it! Yeah, they might not like you...but don't act like you've ever had it as bad as me."

"What?" Elena's mind struggled to comprehend what her supposed best friend was saying, "What's going on, Care? This doesn't sound like you...what happened?" When she didn't answer, Elena plowed on, "Damon told me that he hired you as a waitress at The Grill. Why didn't you tell me you were looking for a job? I would've talked to Damon...you didn't have to go through Matt."

"Yeah, well," Caroline sighed, her shoulders slumping forward as all the fight went out of her. "You've been going through a lot ever since Anna died. I didn't want to burden you with my problems, too."

"Burden?" Elena shook her head, reaching over to give her friend a one-armed hug. "Not at all, Care. I can tell that something's wrong, what is it?"

The bell rang at that moment, and Caroline pulled back with a small smile. "After school?" she suggested, watching as Elena's face fell. "Oh right, you have work..." she shifted, "Well, I'll be there at 8 for the night shift so maybe I'll get there early and we can talk?"

"Sure," Elena agreed, "I'll try and talk Damon into letting me off a few minutes early."

* * *

><p>Elena walked into The Grill exactly ten minutes before her shift was supposed to start, but she paused at the door when she peered around the surprisingly empty establishment. She glanced towards the bar, where Damon was leaning against the counter, facing a blonde that Elena didn't recognize. She had long silky hair that fell down her back in a single sheet, and a round gorgeous face. Elena let the door slam shut behind her, causing both of them to look in her direction, startled.<p>

"Elena," Damon immediately made his way around the counter and towards her, his arm stretched out so that he could pull her against his shoulder. "Meet the new waitress I was telling you about, Alexis."

"Call me Lexi," she said to Elena with a friendly smile, "Damon has told me so much about you. You're a senior in high school?"

Elena nodded curtly, "Nice to meet you." Then she turned towards Damon, "So will I be working the same shifts as her?"

"Well, not today since no one is here," Damon responded easily, waving a hand around the room. "But when it gets busy, then maybe."

"So I can take off?" Lexi inquired, glancing in between Damon and Elena curiously, "Are you sure?"

Damon nodded, and followed her into the back so that he could show her how to clock out for the day. Elena stared after them for a full minute before she realized what she was doing, and shook her head. By the time Damon returned, she had tied on her apron and was wiping down the already-clean counter. "So, Lexi," she said by way of conversation starter, "Think she's got the chops to be a good waitress?"

"She did good this morning," Damon sat down in a bar stool in front of her, "You know, when there were like two customers here."

Elena stopped what she was doing to frown at him, "Where is everyone? Usually this place is packed after school."

"I guess the murder scared them off for the time being," Damon shrugged, and then gestured towards the parking lot outside. "Cops have been out there all morning. They're still looking for clues."

She glanced around the room once, even though she knew that they were the only two in there at the moment, and asked in a low voice, "Has Alaric found anything out yet?"

"He's been working on it," Damon stood up and placed his hand over hers to stop her movements, "I think the counter is clean enough, Elena." She glanced down, and he immediately removed his hand and sat back down. "Something's wrong," he prompted, "Did something happen at school?"

"I..." she sighed, "Just stupid teenage drama. You wouldn't be interested."

Damon shot her a half grin, "Do you see anyone else here? Your story will probably be the most interesting thing I hear all day."

"Even more interesting than all the stories that Lexi had to share?"

He raised an eyebrow at her tone, but wisely chose not to comment. Instead he merely repeated, "What happened?"

"Caroline and I got into an argument...about Tyler Lockwood, believe it or not." Elena felt a wave of frustration hit her, "I just can't stand that guy! And then Caroline gets mad at me just because I had the nerve to stand up to him today—for her sake, but still!"

Damon contemplated for a second before suggesting, "Maybe she wanted to stand up for herself."

"But that's the point!" Elena exclaimed, "She didn't!"

He heaved a sigh and then walked back around the bar so that he could grasp both of her shoulders firmly. "You have to give people a chance to find their strength sometimes, Elena," he said quietly, "You've already found yours, and..." He gave her a small smile as their gazes met, "Your parents would be so proud of you, if they could see the beautiful, strong woman you've grown up to be." His voice dropped to a whisper, and she had to lean forward to hear his next words, "I know I am."

"Thank you," Elena whispered back, inexplicably moved by his sentiments. "For everything," she added, "For helping with Jeremy, and hiring Alaric, and...just everything. I couldn't have gotten through these past few days without you."

"It was my pleasure," Damon's voice sounded oddly strained, and Elena suddenly became aware of just how close they were standing. He still hadn't released her shoulders, and she could feel the silence of their empty surroundings become that much more meaningful.

The door slammed shut.

Elena and Damon sprung apart to see most of the football team filtering into The Grill. Tyler was at the forefront with Mason, and rounding out the end of the group was Matt. "Hey," she immediately rushed towards him, "What are you all doing here? What happened to practice?"

"It was cancelled," Matt grinned, looking ecstatic as he pulled her in for a kiss. "What's wrong?" he frowned when she tried to back away after only a few seconds, "Elena?"

"I'm working," she said uncomfortably, not needing to turn around to know that Damon's eyes were on her. "Maybe I should call Caroline to come in early?"

"Oh that's not necessary," Damon answered from behind her, "I'm sure the two of us can handle it."

"Okay," Elena responded tightly, smiling at Matt, "I guess I should take everyone's order...Do you guys need menus?"

The door chimed open again, but this time everyone went silent when they saw who walked in. "Detective," Elena greeted nervously, "What are you doing here? Any news on my brother?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Damon walk closer to her.

"Not yet," Rebekah answered, flanked by both Elijah and Klaus. "Though we have made some significant progress in Anna's murder investigation." She pulled a photo out of her jacket, though she kept it hidden from view. "Our team has been searching Anna's apartment for some sort of clue about who might have wanted her dead, and we found an interesting picture in one of her albums."

"What is it?" Damon asked impatiently, "Did you find her boyfriend? Her parents?"

For an answer, Rebekah flipped the photo around so they could all see it. Elena took a step forward, unable to believe what she was seeing. It was a childhood photograph, where Anna was probably not more than 8 or 9 years old. But it was the blonde boy in the photo that Elena was staring at, because it was clearly...

"Matt Donovan," Klaus announced, barely hiding his smug expression. "You appear to have been less than truthful during our cross examination last Friday." He tilted his head, "Now are you going to come into the station voluntarily for questioning, or are we going to have to use force?"


	8. Truth

**A/N: **sorry for the long wait! It's nearing the end of the school year so I've been drowning in projects and exams. Luckily I've finally come across some spare time this weekend—and since we find ourselves in the midst of yet ANOTHER hiatus, I thought I'd get this chapter out ;) Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Elena sat dutifully in the waiting area of the police station, ignoring the curious looks that were sent in her direction on more than one occasion. Stefan was seated next to her, seemingly unusually tense as his gaze flicked back and forth across the room. "Would you relax?" she finally hissed out of the corner of her mouth, "You look like you're hiding something—not the best expression to be wearing while you're surrounded by a bunch of <em>cops<em>."

"I'm not the one you need to be worried about," Stefan retorted, though he shifted his shoulders in an attempt to release some of the tension. "I'm not the one that's been purposely hindering Anna's murder investigation."

She drew her breath in sharply, letting her fingernails dig into the armrests on her chair. "I'm sure Matt had a perfectly reasonable explanation for what he did," she responded calmly, "I don't believe he was…" She closed her eyes briefly before continuing, "I don't believe that he has anything to do with what's been going on."

"Just because you don't _want _to believe something doesn't make it any less true," Stefan snapped, and Elena flinched slightly. He glanced at her, but didn't soften his expression. "I'm not going to apologize," he said stiffly, "We've all been on edge ever since Anna was murdered in the parking lot of my brother's restaurant, and now we find out that Matt knew more than he was letting on all along?" He shook his head, "Even you have to admit that there better be a damn good reason—"

"I know," Elena cut him off, "Trust me, I know." She felt defensive, but there was a small part of her that was agreeing with what Stefan was saying. And she hated herself for feeling that way. "He's still Matt," she said after a moment, turning to look at him earnestly, "He's still the guy that I've known forever, and he's still my boyfriend. I owe it to him to at least hear him out."

"You and my brother," Stefan muttered moodily, "Always so big on the second chances."

"Matt hasn't done anything wrong!" Elena exclaimed, growing frustrated when all Stefan did was give her an incredulous look. "Alright, so he never told anyone that he used to know Anna…that doesn't make him a criminal." She folded her arms, "And it certainly doesn't make him a killer."

Stefan blew out a gust of air, but he didn't say anything for a full minute. When he finally spoke again, he sounded like he was trying to be diplomatic. "I know this is hard for you, Elena. I swear I'm not trying to be a jackass. I just don't want you to get your hopes up about his innocence only to have it be thrown in your face later on when we find out the truth."

"Innocent until proven guilty, Stefan," she reminded him, though her voice sounded strained to her own ears. "Remember that."

"I'll do my best," he glanced at her again before looking back down at his watch. "They've been in there for a long time," he commented, "You're handling this better than I thought you would."

She tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. "I put on a good show." Then, without thinking, she blurted out, "I wish Damon was here." Realizing what she had said, she groaned out loud and slumped in her chair. "I didn't mean...Just ignore me. I don't know what I'm saying. I'm glad you're here, Stefan. I really am. I didn't mean to imply otherwise."

"Damon would be here if he could," Stefan said in a surprisingly gentle tone, "Until he gets off work, you'll just have to deal with me."

"Not just you it seems," Elena said, looking up as a familiar figure walked through the door. "Alaric just got here."

"Thank god," Stefan stood up, "Maybe he has some new information for us." He looked questioningly at Alaric, who shook his head once and then gestured to Elena. "Er, I think he wants you to speak with him outside."

Elena hesitated, glancing towards the closed doors that Matt had disappeared behind more than an hour ago. "Alright, I'll go see what he found out..." She paused and laid a hand on Stefan's arm, "You'll let me know the _second _that Matt gets out of there?"

"I will."

* * *

><p>"How are you holding up?" Alaric asked as soon as she slid past the glass doors and stepped into the parking lot, "Damon told me what happened."<p>

"As well as can be expected," Elena responded, answering his first question and quickly moving onto the second part of his sentence. "You spoke to Damon? Is he coming here?"

"No, he's still caught up at work. He can't just leave The Grill in the hands of that new employee...what's her name? Caroline?"

"Oh yeah, she was supposed to start today," Elena suddenly remembered, raising a hand to her forehead as she felt a migraine coming on. "I forgot."

"Understandable," Ric placed a hand on the small of her back and began to lead her further away from the police station and towards a car that she didn't recognize. "A rental," he explained when he saw her puzzled look. "Get in," he added, pulling the passenger door open for her. "I don't want anyone to overhear our conversation."

"I assume you found out something then," Elena shut the door and turned to look at him as he settled into the driver's seat. "Is it about the Mikaelsens?"

Alaric nodded, shooting a wary glance up at the station even though there was no chance that anyone would be able to hear them from inside the car. "I did some digging into their family tree, so to speak." He pulled a few folders out of the glove compartment and handed three of them to Elena. "You already know Rebekah, Elijah, and Klaus. Have they ever mentioned any other family members to you?"

Elena frowned, thinking. "No, not to me. But Damon said that Rebekah told him she had a brother who was a lawyer."

"Yes, that would be Finn," he handed her the fourth folder and she opened it to see a picture of a man with dark hair that fell across his face and left his expression in shadow. "Well, he's...um, not what I would expect." Unlike the other Mikealsens that she had met, Finn lacked the natural charm and appeal that they all seemed to possess.

Alaric looked slightly amused, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not shallow or anything," Elena said hastily, "He's just kind of...creepy."

"Not the most attractive of the lot," he agreed, "But from what I researched, he's a damn good lawyer."

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"Nothing as far as I can see," Alaric shrugged, "He works in Washington."

"D.C?"

"No, the state. So he was effectively on the other side of the country for all of this. However...there is a fifth brother who is a bit more interesting."

Elena's eyes widened, "Big family."

"This is the last of them," he handed her the final folder, "Check it out."

She flipped it open and gazed at the picture for a moment, "Definitely better looking."

"That's not the interesting part," Alaric commented wryly, "Why don't you take a look at the name?"

**Name: Kol Mikaelsen **

"What's so interesting about that?"

"Keep reading."

Several lines down, she found what Alaric was alluding to.

**2005: Name change. Cole Mikaelsen.**

She felt her throat getting dry as her eyes flew over the remaining details. High schools, jobs, internships, and finally...

**2008: ****Entered NYU.**

"Oh my god," Elena breathed, "This is him...Anna's boyfriend..."

"It certainly looks that way," Alaric's hand closed over hers, and she realized that she had been shaking. "Are you okay? Do you want me to take you back to The Grill? Do you want to speak with Damon?"

"I..." she shook her head frantically, not knowing what to do. "Jeremy," she finally whispered, her heart thudding painfully in her chest. "He's the one that knew the boyfriend's name was Cole! And Rebekah—she knows! Oh god, do you think she had something to do with his disappearance?" Elena's hands flew to her mouth, "Do y-you think that he's...that she..."

"Elena, I need you to calm down," Alaric's voice was firm, and his grip tightened on her hand. "I know this has come as a shock to you, but it's important that we be rational about this, do you understand?"

She nodded mutely.

"If what we suspect is true, then we can't trust _anyone _that works with the Mystic Falls P.D." He pointed at the building in front of them, "Maybe there's a conspiracy, maybe there's not. We don't have any proof."

"No proof?" she repeated hysterically, "I think the evidence speaks for itself, Ric!"

"No concrete proof," he corrected, "And the important thing to do right now is to go on acting like we don't know this information. Can you do that for me?"

"But—"

"If there's a chance that Jeremy is alive," Alaric explained carefully, "Then we can't let the Mickaelsens know that we're on to them. Got it?"

Elena nodded once, beginning to see what he meant. "Got it," she said quietly, clenching her hands into fists to stop her fingers from trembling. "What's our next move?"

Alaric was watching something through his rearview mirror, and he looked startled when Elena prodded his shoulder. "Damon is here," he said, getting out of the car and slamming the door shut. "I already spoke with him before I came here. How about I go into the station and sit with Stefan for a bit while you talk with Damon?"

She rubbed her arms unconsciously, feeling the goosebumps along her skin. "Don't they all hate you?" she asked, referring to Rebekah and her two brothers. "Because they think you're going to get in the way of their investigation?"

"I make them nervous," Alaric said with a grim smile, nodding to Damon as he joined them. "Come inside when you're ready."

"Hey," Damon immediately pulled her into a hug, and she let out a grateful sigh as his warmth enveloped her. "You're going to be okay," he murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Alaric told me everything. Don't worry, Elena. We're going to find Jeremy, I promise."

"Thank you," she whispered, resting her head against his chest as his hand rubbed against her back soothingly. "If it wasn't for you hiring a P.I, then we never would've found out the truth about Cole..."

"You don't have to thank me," Damon pulled back slightly to look at her, "I'm sorry that I couldn't get here earlier. Has there been any news about Matt?"

Elena shook her head, blinking rapidly to keep her tears at bay. "They've been questioning him for a long time, but no one will tell us anything."

"Figures," Damon absentmindedly brushed his thumb across her cheek. "Don't worry," he repeated, "Everything will be okay."

"Everyone keeps saying that," Elena said in a muffled voice as she burrowed her head back into his chest, "It's not going to make it true." Her words echoed Stefan's sentiments from earlier, and she made a face as she remembered what he had said.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked, feeling her tense in his arms, "Elena?"

"Just something that Stefan said," she took a step backwards, and his arms loosened around her although he didn't completely let her go. "He seems pretty pissed about Matt lying."

"I think we're all upset about that, Elena."

"I know," she could feel the defensiveness kicking in again, and sighed. "I just want to give him the benefit of the doubt, doesn't he deserve that?"

Damon looked over her shoulder, and she turned around to see what he was staring at. "I guess we'll find out what he deserves soon enough," he muttered.

Elena took a deep breath, watching through narrowed eyes as Matt walked towards them. "I guess we will."


	9. Clue

**A/N: **yay for the hiatus almost being over! be sure to add me on twitter (tamilnadu09) for updates about the fic or for TVD chats ;)

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><p>If Matt had been expecting Elena to be waiting for him with open arms, then he was sorely disappointed. Although she took a step towards him, she kept her arms crossed against her chest and merely watched as he approached. Something in her expression caused a scowl to flash across his face. "What's the matter?" he asked her in a hard tone, "Surprised that I didn't have to post bail?"<p>

Elena felt a pang in her chest and let her arms drop to her sides, not noticing that her hands had clenched into fists. "That's not fair, Matt. Stefan and I have been waiting for you to be released for the past two hours. We wouldn't have done that if we thought you were guilty of anything." She stopped herself and then amended, "Well, besides a little omission of facts—but hey, it could happen to anyone, right?"

"Don't patronize me, Elena," Matt looked like he was making a huge effort to reign in his temper, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I certainly had nothing to do with Anna's death!"

"Okay," Damon subtly stepped in when he noticed that Elena looked like she was on the verge of tears. He held out a hand towards Matt. "We know that you didn't kill Anna, and we know that you had nothing to do with Jeremy's disappearance, alright?"

"So nice of my _boss _to come check up on me," he sneered back, "Didn't know that was part of the pay grade these days."

"I'm not here as your boss," Damon responded evenly, "I'm here as your friend."

Matt laughed humorlessly, throwing a very obvious look in Elena's direction before he turned back to Damon. "Don't you think I know what you're doing? Or what you're _trying_ to do, in any case?"

Damon faltered, but Elena chose that moment to snap, "There's only so much I can take, Matt! We're here because we know you have a good explanation for hiding your history with Anna—now, SPILL."

He seemed to struggle with indecision for a minute before his shoulders slumped forward and he sighed, trying to decide where to start. "That picture you saw," he began, "She was nine years old. I was eight. I…" He paused, "Well, I haven't always lived in Mystic Falls, you know that."

"You moved up here in middle school," Elena nodded, remembering. "From Georgia?"

"Right," Matt's voice had deepened with disdain, "Back when my parents were still together."

"So you were friends with Anna's family," Alaric prompted, phrasing the sentence so that it wasn't a question, but rather a statement. "You were neighbors? Maybe you grew up together?"

Matt nodded slowly, "Even back then, my parents were always fighting…This was before my dad made it big in the business world. Money was always an issue, and Vicki was prone to acting out, even back then." He gave them a rueful smile, "Anna's family lived a few houses down from us, and she was pretty much my safe haven during those days."

"Safe haven," Elena repeated, looking confused at his choice of words. "So she was like your…"

"Best friend," Matt supplied, meeting Elena's gaze for the first time since he started telling his story, "That's what she was to me."

Damon exchanged a glance with Alaric before he cleared his throat, "Well that's all well and good, Matt. But why on earth would you hide your past from all of us? You never gave any indication of knowing her when you both worked at The Grill, and—"

"I know," Matt interrupted, "It was a mutual decision."

Elena frowned. She knew enough about Matt to know when he was being evasive. "Why?" she questioned, "Being childhood friends with someone isn't a crime. From what you told us, it was all innocent. Why go to the trouble of pretending that friendship never existed?"

"My family left Georgia pretty abruptly, and for a while we moved from place to place," Matt's voice had become subdued, "Until finally we settled in Mystic Falls. Like you said, it was around sixth grade." He scuffed the heel of his sneaker back and forth against the tar for a second before continuing, "Anna and I had lost touch after about the third or fourth move. I tried to write to her once we settled here, but apparently she had moved too." He shrugged, "I brushed it off and figured that I would never see her again."

Elena had walked forward by this time so that she was standing directly in front of Matt. "But you did see her again," she stated, "When Anna somehow ended up in Mystic Falls."

"It was pure coincidence," Matt swore, "But I was in The Grill that night when she came to ask for a job. I was hanging out with Tyler and some of the guys, and I saw her and I just..."

"What?"

"It was before you and I were going out," he said quickly to Elena, "So I didn't...it wasn't like I did anything wrong."

"You slept with her," Alaric deduced, "And then you both decided to forget it ever happened?"

"She had a boyfriend," Matt muttered, "And yes, I think it was this Cole guy that everyone is looking for right now. She didn't tell me till afterwards though, and so we just decided that it would be best to pretend that nothing had happened."

Elena shook her head, "You could've told me, Matt. I would've understood...We've been friends ever since you moved here."

"I know, but it's just one of those things that..." He hesitated as he tried to explain, "Like one of those that you want to keep secret because it's special?"

She raised a surprised eyebrow, and Stefan hastily intervened. "Okay Matt, I don't think you're doing anyone any favors right now. What did the cops say?"

Matt snorted, "That blonde one basically told me not to leave town anytime soon."

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you're alright?" Damon asked warily as he followed Elena into the Salvatore house. "I know it's a lot to take in."<p>

"I'm fine," she responded calmly, "We knew that Matt had to have an explanation for everything, and I'm just glad he did."

"But..."

"So he hid his past with Anna," Elena shrugged as she made herself comfortable on the couch, "If she hadn't been killed, then it wouldn't be important...see what I mean?"

Damon frowned, "Sure."

"Alright," Alaric announced as he sat down across from Elena, "Now that we're away from prying eyes and ears, let's talk about what we should do next." He tossed a folder onto the coffee table, and Elena reached out to read over Cole's file again.

"I wonder why he changed his name," she mused thoughtfully, "But he kept his family name...strange, isn't it?"

"Maybe it was an effort to fit in?" Stefan suggested, "I mean, all their names are really archaic."

"Could be," Alaric agreed, though he didn't sound very convinced. "I'm guessing it had more to do with something that happened in that year...2005."

"Like what?"

"I'll just have to do a little digging and find out."

Damon shook his head, "No, that shouldn't be our focus. We need to find out where Jeremy is first."

"Well, assuming that he's still alive..."

Elena blanched.

Alaric immediately corrected himself, looking apologetic. "Sorry," he said quickly, "I'm just on edge." He reached over to squeeze her hand gently, "Of course I believe that Jeremy is still alive. We just need to find him."

Damon sat down next to Elena and she leaned into him gratefully. "Where do you suppose we start?" he asked Alaric, "The treatment center?"

Ric nodded, "I want to question everyone when the Mikaelsens aren't hovering over my shoulder. I think the staff will be a little more willing to talk if they're not around." He glanced up at Elena, "And I want you to come with me. You've interacted with them the most, so you'll know if something seems off." He pulled out another file and began reading from it, "You said Rose was Jeremy's therapist?"

"Yeah," Elena twisted her hands in her lap, "But she's really nice. I can't imagine her having anything to do with this."

"But we did see her talking to Klaus that day," Stefan reminded her, "The day after Jeremy went missing."

"He could've just been asking her some questions," Elena pointed out, though she didn't sound very adamant.

Alaric stood up, "We'll head down there in the morning. Get some sleep in the meantime."

"I can go with you right after school," Elena smiled slightly, "That is, if my _understanding _boss lets me off work..."

Damon rolled his eyes, "With a compliment like that, how can I refuse?"

"Won't you be short-handed?" Stefan asked his brother with a frown, "Caroline won't get there till 6PM."

"I know," Damon waved off his concerns, "I'll just ask Lexi to stay a little later. I'm sure she won't mind the extra cash."

Elena's smile slipped off her face—something that both Stefan and Alaric noticed, but that Damon was seemingly oblivious to.

Alaric glanced in between them and not-so-subtly excused himself from the room. Stefan muttered something about needing to finish homework, though he paused on the threshold to look back at Elena. "The keys to my car are hanging on that hook by the door. Feel free to drive it back home or to school, if you want."

"Thanks, Stefan. Have a good night."

Damon turned to look at her once his brother had left, the concerned expression back on his face. "Elena..."

"I'm fine," she repeated wearily, "Really." She was still leaning into him, and she sighed contentedly when he raised his arm and placed it around her shoulders. "Thank you for coming down to the station today," she said quietly, "It helped having a friend there."

Damon's arm tightened around her shoulders, and she felt his lips press onto the top of her head. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I know," she absentmindedly began drawing patterns on the back of his hand with her index finger. "It's funny, isn't it? After our parents died, we all stopped hanging out...but this whole Anna thing has really brought us back together, hasn't it?"

"Just because we stopped hanging out doesn't mean that..." Damon trailed off, his voice growing hoarse, "It doesn't mean that I ever stopped caring about you."

Elena was startled when he suddenly flipped around his hand and her own hand sunk perfectly into his as their fingers intertwined. "Same here," she said after a minute, pink tinging her cheeks when she heard how oddly breathless she sounded. _What was wrong with her?_

Damon didn't seem to notice. "Speaking of which," he began, sounding uncomfortable, "I kind of have a confession to make."

"Oh?"

"It's about Alaric."

There was no doubt about it, he definitely sounded vaguely panicked now.

Elena lifted her head from his shoulder so that she could meet his gaze with a frown, "What about him?"

Damon broke the connection between their hands so he could run his fingers through his hair. "See, this isn't exactly the first time that Alaric has met you."

"Okay," she responded slowly, trying to figure out where this was going. "Did we meet at one of your parents' dinner parties or something?"

"Or something," Damon gave a very forced and nervous laugh, before his expression abruptly became serious once more. "Just..." his tone became pleading, "Promise me you won't get mad."

Elena blinked, bewildered. "What would I possibly have to be mad at you about? Damon, what's going on? Did you hire Alaric for something before?"

"Yes, actually," Damon looked immensely relieved that she had come to that conclusion on her own. "Elena, I—"

The doorbell rang.

He broke off, frustrated.

"Who could that be?" Elena got to her feet, and Damon immediately jumped up to pull her back. "What?"

"It's late," he cautioned, "Let me go first."

She rolled her eyes, but fell back slightly so that she was a few inches behind him. All the same, he threw an arm out in front of her when he opened the door.

"That's weird," Elena commented into the silence, "There's no one here."

"Who's at the door?" Alaric had come down the stairs, looking at them curiously. "What's the matter?"

Damon stepped out onto the porch to look around, "I don't see anything."

Alaric slid past Elena, his eyes darting to the driveway and around the steps. "Odd," he turned around to come back inside when he froze, his gaze falling on something that was out of Elena's line of sight.

"What?" she demanded, hurriedly stepping outside, "What is it?"

Behind the brass door numbers on the side of the house, someone had wedged in a DVD. It was unlabeled, save for a bright yellow Post-It note that merely read 'Watch Me.'


	10. Locked

**A/N: **as many of you guessed, there is more to the Matt/Anna backstory than he was letting on...oh and also, YAY this fic crossed the 200-review mark! so awesome- thank you all!

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><p>You know those moments when you're so angry at someone that all you want to do is kick, punch, scream, or throw things? Anything to make them comprehend at least an <em>ounce <em>of the unadulterated rage that you're feeling?

Yeah, that's how Elena currently felt.

"SHUT UP!" she shouted, her fingers curling around her cell phone as she furiously hurled it against the metal lockers. It hit them with a loud bang and clattered to the floor, the sound echoing dismally in the otherwise silent locker room.

"You're lucky that didn't break," Tyler commented, staring pointedly at the phone but making no move to pick it up even though it had landed near his feet.

"This is all your fault!" Elena hissed, storming up to him and giving him a shove that caused him to stumble back several feet. "We're stuck in here because of you, and I don't even see you doing anything about it!"

He didn't deny the accusation, but he didn't look particularly apologetic either. "Look, it's not my fault the school locks the only door to the locker room during practice so that no one can steal stuff. It's also not my fault that you decided to come in here looking for Matt."

"No," she agreed through gritted teeth, "Those things aren't your fault." She jabbed a finger into his chest, "It is, however, your fault that you tried to keep me from finding Matt by wasting my time for ten minutes—right up until the moment the doors locked!"

"To be fair, I wasn't keeping track of the time," Tyler slid away from her and moved to the other side of the room. "It's not like I had some grand master plan to get the two of us locked in here after school, Elena." He lounged across a bench and stared up at her impassively, "In fact, you're pretty much the last person I would want to be stuck with anywhere. Ever."

She glared at him and then crouched down to retrieve her phone, holding out an irrational hope that throwing it against the lockers would've somehow caused it to find a signal. She held it up to the ceiling, scowling when she saw that she still had zero bars.

"We're in the basement," Tyler reminded her for the umpteenth time, "No one ever gets signal down here."

"Thanks for that valuable insight," she growled back, digging her fingernails into her palms to keep from screaming at him again. "Look, I don't know about you, but I sort of have important places to be right now—"

"And I'm supposed to be at practice," he shrugged, "Like I said, this isn't exactly on my top ten list of places I want to be."

Elena groaned in annoyance and slumped down to the floor, keeping her back pressed to the lockers for support. "I can't believe this is happening," she muttered, "Alaric is going to kill me."

"Alaric? Oh he's that private investigator that the Salvatores hired, right?"

She glanced up at Tyler, surprised that he knew this information. Although Anna's death had obviously been in the news, not many people knew the details of the investigation. There was only Stefan (who didn't even go to their school), Caroline (who knew minimal details and wouldn't tell anyone anyway), and Matt who…

"Matt told you?"

"He tells me everything," Tyler said after a moment, "I know that you never wanted to accept that I was one of his best friends, but it's time you learned that's the way things are."

Elena decided to ignore the latter part of his statement in order to avoid another argument. She was tired of the fighting, of the constant need to watch her back around Tyler and his brother. She was just…tired.

"Elena?" For a second she could delude herself into thinking that he almost sounded concerned, "Are you alright?"

She drew in a long breath and slowly let it out, counting to ten in her head. "Did you know?" she asked without looking at him, "About Matt and Anna?"

"It was a long time ago," Tyler replied carefully, "You and Matt weren't even together yet."

"Yeah, that's what he told me," she examined her fingernails with sudden interest, "He said that you were there with him in The Grill that night…when Anna came in to look for a job?"

"Yeah, Mason and I were both there."

Elena finally looked up to meet his gaze, her expression serious. "What's the real reason that Matt decided to hide his history with her?"

"I thought…" Tyler frowned, "Didn't you know they slept together?"

"Yes," she answered impatiently, "And you expect me to just sit back and believe that's the whole story?"

"It's what happened, Elena."

"Oh I believe it happened," she got to her feet and began walking around with her cell phone held out in front of her, "I just don't believe that it's _everything _that happened."

"Looks like denial isn't just a river in Egypt."

She didn't even turn around as she responded sarcastically, "Oh look, someone knows his first grade geography."

Tyler was silent for a full minute before he suddenly snapped, "You think you're so smart, don't you?"

"Well, I think I'm smarter than you…but then again, most people are."

There was a thump and Elena turned around to see what had happened. She gasped and took a startled step backwards when she realized Tyler was inches away from her. "You know, Elena," he sneered as he looked her up and down, "You really are a bitch."

"That's rich," she narrowed her eyes, not backing down even when he took another step forward, "Especially coming from the biggest jackass in school."

"I bet whoever killed Anna wasn't even aiming for her," Tyler said menacingly, "If it was me, then you would definitely be my first target."

Elena's mouth dropped open in shock. "That's…" she licked her suddenly dry lips, "That's going too far, Tyler." She shook her head and hurriedly put some distance between them. "We might hate each other, but I would never wish…" she trailed off, muttering under her breath, "Forget it. Let's just find a way to get out of here."

As she resumed walking around every nook and cranny of the locker room to try and find a cell phone signal, she could hear Tyler following behind her.

He was like an extremely loud and overbearing shadow.

The silence in the room now seemed somehow even more oppressing than before, and she could hear Tyler's watch ticking away. In the dark recesses of her mind, a few lines from "The Tell-Tale Heart" sprang to memory and she began laughing to herself.

"Elena?" Tyler sounded nervous. Maybe he was worried she had finally cracked. "Are you okay?"

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine," she continued chuckling darkly to herself, "Just dandy."

"I'm sorry," he blurted suddenly, "About what I said earlier. You're right, it was out of line. I didn't mean it."

She tilted her head thoughtfully as she examined his expression. "You have these moments," she said to him, wondering where this bout of honesty had come from. "These moments of sincerity and clarity, and I find it really hard to believe that any of it is real."

"I…"

"Like that incident in the hallway the other day," Elena went on, "When you kicked Caroline's book and refused to pick it up until Matt showed up—and then you apologized?" She crossed her arms, "What _was _that? Why would you take the blame? I was ready to accept responsibility for it, you knew that."

Tyler looked at her in disbelief, "So now you're mad at me for being nice? I just can't win with you, can I?"

"I don't have anything against you being nice," she corrected, "It's the fake-nice that makes me wonder what's in your agenda."

"I don't have an agenda."

"Guys like you?" she scoffed, turning away, "You always have an agenda." A second later, something that he had said nagged at her and she frowned. "Wait, what do you mean you can't 'win with me?' Why would you be trying to get points in my book at all? This can't have anything to do with Matt…we've all come to the conclusion that the two of us will never be friends, and Matt long ago accepted that."

"It doesn't have anything to do with Matt," he ran his fingers through his hair—a gesture that Elena immediately associated with Damon; that is, when he was trying to tell her something that she didn't want to hear, or something that was hard for him to say.

"Who, then?" Elena prodded, "What's going on, Tyler?"

He met her gaze, and she was surprised to see a layer of vulnerability hidden beneath the bravado in his eyes. "I'm sleeping with Caroline."

She burst out laughing, "And here I was, thinking that we were actually having a serious and honest conversation for once in our lives." She continued chuckling as she made her way towards the door. Maybe she could try banging on it, in the hopes that someone walking past would be able to hear?

"Elena." She felt a sharp pain, and she winced as Tyler grabbed her arm to pull her back. "I am being serious," he insisted, "Please, you have to hear me out."

She wrenched her arm out of his grasp. "I don't have to do anything," she corrected, "Especially when you're attempting to spread vicious rumors about my best friend!"

"Caroline values your opinion more than anyone else's," Tyler followed her and raised his voice to be heard over Elena's fists hitting the door. "It's why she didn't tell you…she knew you wouldn't approve."

"Listen," Elena whirled around to face him, "Caroline would never stoop that low, understand? You treat her like dirt, the same way that you treat everyone else around here. So why don't you stop with the lies, and help me figure out a way to get us the hell out of here?"

"Elena, I really like her."

"God," she cried, having had enough. "I don't need to hear this right now, alright? I was supposed to meet Alaric over an hour ago at the treatment center from where, by the way, my brother was kidnapped for knowing too much—I've spent the past few days not knowing if he was dead or if he was being tortured, and this is all on top of wondering if the cops are really trying to find him or not." She sucked in small breath of air, "And last night someone—most likely Anna's killer or hey, maybe it was the cops themselves—dropped off a little homemade DVD at the Salvatore house a-and—and…" Here she broke down completely, feeling her knees give out as she slumped forward.

To her extreme surprise, Tyler's arms encircled her and he caught her just before she hit the ground. "Shh," he whispered, pulling her in for a hug. "I'm sorry, Elena, okay?" He patted the back of her head, murmuring soothing phrases in her ear. "I'm sorry about everything. You're right, you have a lot going on right now. I was a jerk, I should've realized…" As her tears slowed, he tightened his arms around her briefly. "Everything is going to be alright, okay? Jeremy is going to be just fine, everything will be fine."

Elena pulled away from him, feeling her face flush with embarrassment. "Sorry," she wiped a hand against her eyes and turned away, "I didn't mean to go off on you like that."

"It's my fault, I was being a jackass." His tone was self-deprecating, and once again she caught the underlying sincerity.

"Well yeah," her lips twitched, "You were."

He smiled at her slightly, though his expression sobered almost immediately. "Want to tell me what happened? What was on the DVD?"

"Jeremy," she whispered, "He was sitting in a chair in some room, and I think whoever was standing behind the camera was holding up cue cards or something for him to read because his eyes kept flicking to a spot exactly to the right of the camera as he spoke."

Tyler swore under his breath, "What did they make him say?"

"That he was alive and that he would continue to be kept alive, if..."

"If what?"

Elena bit her lip, "If we stopped our own investigation into the crime and just let it go."

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"But..." Tyler looked at her in confusion, "I thought you said that you were supposed to meet Alaric after school?"

"I was."

He hesitated, "So you're not calling off the investigation? What about Jeremy?"

"Ric thinks that whoever kidnapped Jer is working with the police. As long as they don't know what we're doing, then the killer won't know either."

He frowned, "You're playing with fire, Elena."

"I don't have a choice," she swallowed, "I need to get to the bottom of this before someone else gets hurt."

Tyler suddenly gripped her arm, "They'll come after you next, Elena. You need to drop this!"

She stared at him, surprised by his intensity. Before she could respond, however, the door clicked open and the coach stormed in. "LOCKWOOD," he barked, "Skipping out on practice, are we?"

"We got locked in here," Elena jumped in to explain before Tyler could say anything, "It's my fault."

The coach glared at her but didn't comment. "On the field. NOW," he stood by the door and pointed them out, "Ms. Gilbert, are you done here?"

"Yeah," she hastily made her way out the door. As soon as she got near the stairs, her phone emitted a multitude of beeps signalling all her missed calls and texts.

"Hope you're not in too much trouble," Tyler nodded towards her phone, keeping his tone light in the presence of the coach. "Maybe you should just change your plans since you're late anyway," he added pointedly, hovering beside her when she didn't respond.

"LOCKWOOD!"

"Coming, coming," he grumbled, jogging out towards the field. He turned one last time to look at Elena though, a warning expression crossing his face.

She didn't know what to say, so she only waved to show that she had heard him. Then her gaze quickly scanned the field, trying to find Matt. When she didn't spot him, she sighed and looked back down at her phone. A series of increasingly worried texts from Alaric, Damon, and Stefan had filled her inbox. There were also four missed calls from Caroline's cell as well as the landline number at The Grill.

Elena hit the call back button to Damon's cell first, and raised the phone to her ear as she hurriedly made her way into the parking lot towards her car (well, technically, Stefan's car that he had seemingly loaned to her for the time being).

As she neared it, however, a car door slammed from somewhere in her vicinity and familiar voice fairly shouted at her, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Damon?" she gaped at him as he angrily strode towards her, "What...what are you doing here? Why aren't you at work? Why—" All the breath was abruptly knocked out of her as he grabbed her to him and enveloped her in a hug. "Can't breathe," she wheezed, but he didn't loosen his hold.

"Don't care," he hissed back, his hands entangling in her hair and pulling her even closer. "Jesus, Elena," he breathed into her ear, "You scared me half to death."

She finally raised herself on her tiptoes to loop her arms around his neck, feeling how tense he was in her arms. "I'm sorry," she whispered back, "Tyler and I got stuck in the boys locker room, and the door was locked and the coach didn't come looking for him until now...it's in the basement so there was no cell phone signal..."

"I thought..." Damon pulled back to look at her, his hands instinctively cupping her face, "I thought that maybe Jeremy's kidnapper or Anna's killer or god knows what had gotten to you."

Even though none of it had been her fault, Elena could still feel the guilt bubbling up in her throat at the sight of his worried expression. She had never seen him look that scared in her life, not even the time that Stefan was eight and decided to run away from home (he had made it to the school bus stop down the street).

"I'm okay," she murmured, reaching up with her own hands to hold his in place on her face, "Really." Then she amended, "Well, apart from a short but intense screaming match with Tyler...but I think that the two of us have finally reached an understanding that—"

"Elena?"

She broke off with a puzzled frown. For the first time, Damon was wearing an expression that she didn't recognize. "Yeah?"

"Stop talking."

She knew what he was going to do the second before he did it, and she vaguely realized why she hadn't been able to recognize his expression. But then his lips were on hers, and all coherent thought slipped from her mind.


	11. Duress

**A/N**: wow, so it's been a while! firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews and everyone on twitter who's been telling me that they missed reading this fic ;) I've missed writing it as well! The past few weeks have been absolutely crazy. I graduated from college a couple weeks ago, and the weeks leading up to that were the busiest I've ever been. EVER. Then I got back home and watched the TVD finale...which, to be honest, didn't exactly provide me the inspiration to start writing again (let's just say that I wasn't a fan of the ending of that episode). But anyway, I'm sure I've rambled on long enough! This chapter picks up right where the last one left off. Enjoy!

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><p>The fingertips of his left hand were resting lightly on her waist, while his right hand slipped to the back of her neck to pull her closer. Even though Elena had realized what he was about to do, she was still taken by surprise when his lips closed over hers. She hesitated for a second before kissing him back, and she immediately felt Damon's hand tighten on her waist in response. As he slowly deepened the kiss, she lost all sense of where she was or what was happening.<p>

_She wasn't standing in the middle of the school parking lot, she wasn't surrounded by hordes of gossiping high school students, her boyfriend wasn't in the football field only several hundred feet away…_

"Wait, wait," he suddenly gasped out, breaking the spell. As he pulled away from her, she was startled at the sense of loss she felt from the removal of his body against hers. She blinked, completely disoriented. "Elena..."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was dimly aware of how breathless he sounded and how seemingly affected he was by what had just happened between them. As she met his gaze, she abruptly remembered the series of events that had led them to this point in time and space. "Oh god, Jeremy," she blurted out, her hand flying to her mouth. "Alaric is waiting for me at the treatment facility—"

"Elena," Damon said again, his eyes wary as he studied her. For the first time in as long as she could remember, he looked uncertain. "I could…" he cleared his throat, "Do you want me to drive you there?"

"No," she replied instantly, tearing her eyes away from his. She looked past him to where Stefan's car was waiting for her, and was grateful that she had a legitimate excuse to avoid being in a confined space with Damon at that moment. "Your brother lent me his car, remember? I can't leave it here."

"Oh right," he half-turned to see what she was looking at, but she had a feeling his movements were purely mechanical. When he looked back at her, she didn't miss the flash of disappointment that crossed his expression. "I could follow you in my car," he offered then, the anxiety in his voice unmistakable. "I want to make sure you get there in one piece."

Elena could feel the tension growing between them, and she took a deep breath to alleviate her current feelings of being backed into a corner. "I'm sorry you were worried," she finally said in what she hoped was a calm and reasonable tone, "I understand why you were. If our positions had been reversed, then I would've freaking out too."

"But?" Damon didn't look happy, and he crossed his arms as he stared impassively at her.

"I..."

"ELENA!"

She turned around to see Matt running towards her. Even at this distance, she could tell that he looked annoyed about something. As he neared her, she happened to look over his shoulder and see Tyler standing by the doors of the school building. Her features slipped into a frown, but she didn't have time to ponder the implications of what he was up to. "Hey," she said to Matt, trying very much to sound like a normal girlfriend and not someone who had just made out with Damon Salvatore—who, incidentally, was standing just at the periphery of her vision. "What are you doing? Did practice get out?"

"Tyler told me what happened...you guys were locked down there? Are you okay?" Matt examined her through narrowed eyes, "You look a little pale...Tyler didn't say anything to you, did he?"

Elena shook her head quickly, though her confusion was growing. "No, I'm fine. Why would you think Tyler said something to me?"

"I know you two don't exactly get along," Matt turned his attention away from her to look at Damon instead. "What are you doing here?" The disdain in his tone was evident, and Elena inwardly bristled in Damon's defense.

"Alaric is waiting for us," she answered before Damon could reply, "And we're already late because of that stunt Tyler pulled." She glanced back at Tyler as she spoke, and wasn't surprised to see that he was still standing by the doors. "Sorry," she added distantly, "But we should probably get going. And I don't want you to get in trouble for skipping out on practice."

"Fine," Matt responded shortly, pulling away from her. He began walking away, but relented at the last second and turned back around. "I hope you guys are able to find out something useful at that place. Call me if you do?"

"Of course," Elena smiled at him tentatively, and was immensely relieved when he returned her smile and waved goodbye. "Well, that's settled," she turned to look at Damon, who was standing several feet behind her with his hands shoved in his pockets. "Ready to go?

He blinked at her, "You really want me to come with you? I thought you said that for Matt's benefit." He paused then amended, "Or for my benefit, as it were."

She closed her eyes briefly, and gave herself a minute to think about what she really wanted to happen at that moment. "I want you to come," she admitted, "I would feel better if you were there."

When she opened her eyes, Damon's expression had relaxed. "Alright," he agreed, "I'll follow you in my car. I'll call Ric and tell him we're on our way."

* * *

><p>"Rose."<p>

The therapist's eyes widened fractionally when she glanced up from the papers on her desk and saw Elena standing in the doorway. "Ms. Gilbert," she stood up with a smile, though it seemed a little forced. "I didn't expect to see you today...Has something happened? Any new leads on Jeremy?"

"No," Elena shook her head as she walked more fully into the large office space. Alaric had asked her not to mention the blackmail tape, for reasons which he had chosen to keep to himself. "Unfortunately no new information yet," she looked downwards despondently, "I hope he's okay."

There was a pause before Rose reached out to take her hand. When Elena looked up, she was surprised to see tears in the woman's eyes. "I can only imagine what you have been going through this past week, Elena. If you ever want to talk..."

"That's actually why I'm here," Elena bit her lip, "Rose, is there _anything _you can tell me about Jeremy's behavior as of late? Whenever I visited him, he seemed to have been getting better..."

"He was getting better," Rose reassured her, though she didn't sound very convincing. "I've already answered all the questions the police asked me about this matter," she suddenly added, "Have you spoken with them?"

Elena hesitated, thrown off by Rose's change in demeanor. "I...well, they don't exactly tell me much," she decided on saying, since it was pretty much the truth anyway. "They just keep saying the case is of a sensitive nature; I'm sure you know what I mean..."

"Not really, no," the other woman answered curtly, "I can't say I've ever been involved in an investigation quite like this before. Or any investigation at all, to be frank."

"Right," Elena pursed her lips, beginning to get annoyed. "So there's nothing you can tell me about Jeremy or anything that happened the night he disappeared that would help me find him?"

"I don't see what else I could tell you that I haven't already told the police."

It wasn't exactly an answer to her question, something that Elena immediately realized. Apparently it was something that Alaric realized too, because he showed up at the doorway a second later. He nodded slightly at Elena, indicating to her that the earpiece she'd been wearing had worked and that he and Damon had heard the entirety of the conversation.

"Alaric Saltzman," he said by way of introduction, "Private investigator."

Rose turned sharply to look at Elena, "Do you know him?"

"She hired me," Ric answered easily, "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions, Rose...It _is _Rose, yes? Never Rosemarie?"

"I've already spoken—"

"To the police, yes we know." Alaric pulled out his notepad, but didn't look at it. "You spoke to Klaus Michaelsen, correct?"

"I..."

"Did you have any prior relationship with anyone in the Michaelsen family?"

Rose's mouth had opened to answer his question, but she caught sight of his expression and hesitated. "What kind of question is that?"

Elena frowned at Alaric, but he wouldn't look at her. "Rose, I believe I asked you a question. One that I already know the answer to, I might add."

She straightened then, her eyes narrowing. "I briefly dated Elijah over a year ago. We ended things because he was too involved in his work. Anything else about my personal life you'd like to know, Mr. Saltzman?"

"Your personal life, no. Jeremy Gilbert, on the other hand..."

"I have nothing more to say to you on the matter," Rose pointed to the door, "I trust you can see yourselves out."

Elena expected Alaric to argue, but he merely stood up and held his hand out to Elena. "We'll be seeing you around, I expect," he smiled coolly, placing a hand on Elena's waist as he led her out of the room and shut the door.

"What was that?" she hissed as soon as they were down the stairs and well out of earshot, "You didn't tell me that Elijah and Rose—"

"That's because I had no idea," he shot her a conspiratorial grin, "I was bluffing. Did you plant the bug in her office like I told you to?"

Elena nodded, glancing around quickly to make sure no one had overheard them. "Ric, is this even legal?"

"Nothing Ric does is legal," Damon appeared beside them, winking at his friend and throwing a casual arm around Elena's shoulders. "You okay?"

"I'm just confused," she crossed her arms as they walked back towards Damon's car. "Do you think Rose is the one that helped Jeremy's kidnappers? Why would she do that?"

"Well, it depends on exactly what sort of relationship she had with Elijah," Alaric broke apart from them so that he could head in the direction of his own car. "I'm going to do a little digging, see what I can find out. I'll meet you back at the house later."

Elena slid out from under Damon's arm and turned to face him, desperately attempting to keep eye contact. "Listen, Damon...about what happened before..."

"I'm not going to apologize."

Whatever she'd been about to say disappeared from her mind and she gaped up at him, "What?"

"For kissing you," his gaze had darkened, "I've been wanting to do that for a long time, Elena. You have no idea."

"But..." she floundered helplessly, "We can't..."

"Why not?" Damon took a step closer to her, invading her personal space with his scent and she sucked in an unsteady breath. "Kiss me."

Elena's senses were swimming, and she clutched onto his shoulders. This inadvertently brought him even closer to her, and she instinctively tilted her face up towards his. "Kiss you," she murmured, repeating the words to herself and to him. "Okay."

A brief look of surprise flickered across his expression, "What?"

Her lips curved upwards slightly and she looped her arms around his neck so that she could lower his head towards hers. "I said," she whispered against his lips enticingly, "Okay."

Little did they know, four separate pairs of eyes were trained on them.

Alaric grinned to himself as he finally pulled out of the parking lot, and Rose stood from her window on the second floor curiously.

Out of sight from any of them, two people were sitting in another car.

"Well," Matt muttered to Tyler as they watched Elena and Damon, "Can't say I didn't see that coming."


	12. Connections

**A/N: **thanks for the reviews everyone! I'll be wrapping up this fic in a few chapters ;) Enjoy!

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><p>"Excuse me?" Caroline hissed loudly across the lunch table, "Are you guys, like, TOGETHER now?"<p>

"No!" Elena insisted in a harsh whisper, "And keep your voice down!"

"Elena, you _kissed _Damon twice…TWICE!" Caroline shoved two fingers into Elena's face for emphasis, and the latter swatted her friend's hand away in annoyance.

"I only told you because I have no one else to talk to, Care," Elena warned in a low voice, "Don't make me regret it."

"Fine," Caroline huffed, leaning back in her seat and stabbing her fork into her salad on the pretense of calm behavior. "What did Matt say when you told him?"

Elena was silent.

Caroline looked up, not bothering to hide her surprise. "Elena Gilbert, are you telling me that you haven't told Matt what happened yet?"

"I haven't seen him," Elena mumbled, desperation seeping into her voice. "And you know what Matt is like…he despises the Salvatores, especially Damon…"

"And with good reason, apparently," Caroline muttered under her breath. She put down her fork and crossed her arms, "I mean, you see what this looks like, don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"God, you can be so dense sometimes," Caroline snapped. She leaned across the table towards Elena, this time keeping her voice low. "Matt has never been a fan of Damon because of the history you guys share—no, let me talk," she held up a hand when she saw Elena about to protest. "Yes, I know you guys grew up together and it was never romantic in the slightest…but it's still a shared history, a past that links you and Damon together in a way that you will never be linked to Matt."

"So?" Elena's voice became hard, "Matt certainly had a past with Anna that he never told me about. At least I was upfront with him about my past with Damon and his family!"

"I'm not here to defend what Matt did," Caroline brushed off her comments dismissively, "We're talking about you right now, Elena. You understand why Matt was always a little jealous, right?"

"Okay, fine," Elena conceded, "I guess I can see that."

"Therefore Matt doesn't like Damon, and with that bias against him…" Caroline shrugged, "I mean, you know how he's going to react, don't you? He's going to say that Damon took advantage of you when you were vulnerable and insecure and scared…"

"_What?_" Elena demanded, "No, that's not how it went down—that's not what happened, Caroline. He's been there for me, and for my family, and—"

"I'm just telling you what it looks like to an outsider," Caroline interrupted her, "Not how it actually is."

Something in her tone had Elena narrowing her eyes, "Wait, you believe me, don't you?"

"Sure," she nodded, "I believe you."

"Caroline."

The blonde sighed, "Look, Elena, all I'm saying is…well, if there is nothing wrong with how you and Damon got closer then why haven't you told Matt the truth? Or even Jenna? You two have always been able to talk about boy problems before." Caroline gave her a brief smile, "She's always been cool Aunt Jenna, remember?"

Elena leveled a look in her direction, "Because Jenna would freak, that's why."

"Does she not like Damon?"

"Of course she likes Damon…but I don't think she'd exactly be happy to know that I cheated on Matt with some guy that's five years older than me."

"Damon isn't 'some guy' and you know it," Caroline pointed out. She began to say something else, but suddenly her expression flickered and she hastily looked back down at her salad.

"Er, what just happened?" Elena frowned and turned around to see what had distracted Caroline. "Of course," she muttered under her breath as she caught sight of Tyler Lockwood entering the cafeteria. He met her gaze for a split second, but he quickly looked away and disappeared into the crowd.

"Quit staring, Elena."

"Did I tell you what happened in that locker room yesterday?" Elena looked back at Caroline, "When I was locked in there with Tyler?"

"Let me guess, he was a complete and total jackass…spare me the details, we all know what he's like."

"Yes," Elena said pointedly, "We do."

Caroline frowned, "What?"

"Care, he told me you guys were sleeping together…I mean, I obviously told him to stop spreading rumors about you because no one in their right mind would believe—" Elena paused, noting that Caroline hadn't met her gaze once. "What is it? Don't worry, I don't think he's telling other people…if you want, I can ask Matt to talk to him and—"

"No!" Caroline blurted out, her face flushing when she saw Elena's bewildered expression. "I mean…I don't want…Matt doesn't have to know."

"Know what? That Tyler is a jerk?" Elena waved off her concerns, "It's about time he knew that his best friend is a slimeball. He's never listened to me before, but maybe he'll listen to you." She stopped talking, however, when she saw Caroline's eyes well up with tears. "Hey, what's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?" She leaned forward, "We never finished our discussion in the hallway the other day…you said you had something to tell me, what is it?"

Caroline shook her head, keeping her face down as she suddenly stood up and half-sprinted out of the cafeteria. Elena stood up to follow her, when she abruptly found herself face to face with none other than Tyler. "I'm not in the mood for any of your games right now," she tried to sidestep him, but he grabbed her arms to stop her from leaving. "Let go of me."

"Just hear me out, Elena. Please."

The desperation in his tone had her thinking twice, and she reluctantly followed him out into the hallway where they wouldn't be overheard. "Fine, I'm listening. What do you want?"

"What happened to Caroline? Why was she upset?"

"I told her the vicious lies you told me about her," Elena snapped, "Anything else?"

Tyler groaned, leaning back against the lockers. He ran his fingers through his hair, keeping his head down and not meeting her gaze. "What did she say? Did she say I was lying?"

Elena opened her mouth to answer, but realized she couldn't. "No," she replied slowly, "She didn't say that." Feeling a sense of dread, she stepped closer to Tyler so that he would be forced to look at her. "You were telling the truth, weren't you? You and Caroline are really together?"

He gave a hollow laugh, "Together? No, definitely not. It was just...an arrangement."

"Arrangement?" Elena pursed her lips, "Friends with benefits?"

"Well, we weren't exactly friends now, were we?" Tyler muttered, "But it worked...we both got something we wanted, even if it wasn't exactly..." He sighed, "Elena, you really have no idea, do you?"

"About what? This? You're right, I did have no idea," Elena crossed her arms, "I'm sorry I didn't believe you yesterday. You understand why, right?"

Tyler swiftly glanced at her, "You don't have to apologize. And that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"You have no idea what Caroline was going through," he clarified, stepping away from the lockers so that he could check the hallway to make sure they really were alone. "I mean, you call yourself her best friend...but you really have no idea."

Elena could feel herself getting angry at his insinuation, and she took a deep breath to force herself to keep her temper. "What are you talking about?"

A door swung shut near them, and they both turned around when they heard Caroline's voice answer her question. "I was jealous, Elena."

"What are you talking about?" Elena frowned, "Jealous about what?"

"Matt," Caroline looked up at the ceiling, "I liked him so much, but you got him first and...you never even liked him, Elena!"

"That's not fair, I—"

"He was in love with you...all he ever did was talk about you," Caroline interrupted, still not meeting her gaze. "And all you ever did was talk about work, and school, and Damon...god, it was so obvious that you had feelings for Damon, even if you never wanted to admit them to yourself!"

Elena shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Matt was suffocating me, Caroline! He was so jealous all the time, he didn't like me spending time with other people, he always had to know where I was and who I was with—"

"Because he felt like he was losing you!" Caroline exploded, "And I was the one that he told all of this to, because obviously he had no idea that I ever liked him. After all, once a guy notices you, it's pretty much over for anyone else!"

"That's not true and you know it," Elena said evenly, "And I'm sorry you feel that way. I swear I had no idea how you felt about Matt, and I'm sorry you felt like you were caught in the middle of our relationship. You're absolutely right that I never loved him the way that he felt about me, but I did care about him. He stood by me through some of my darkest times, and I know he's a good guy. We just never fit the way that he wanted us to." She hesitantly stepped towards Caroline, "This still doesn't explain what Tyler has to do with anything..."

Tyler cleared his throat, "I told you we had an arrangement."

Caroline nodded once, her face becoming expressionless. "I knew I could never have Matt, and I knew how much you and Tyler hated each other. He was the one guy that you would never have...and the one guy that would never chase after you." She shrugged moodily, "He was perfect...With him, I could forget about everything for a while, you know? My life was spinning out of control, but whenever I was with him, it was like all that fell away."

"Your life?" Elena felt like she was missing something, "What are you talking about? Did the whole Matt thing affect you that much?"

She shook her head, "Matt was only part of it. My mom...she lost her job. Drinking too much, you know...That's why I had to get that waitressing gig at The Grill. You wanted to know why I didn't tell you...it's because I knew you would see right through me. I was embarrassed, Elena. I mean, here you are...parents dead in a car crash, brother involved with drugs and a suicide attempt, and now Anna's death and Jeremy missing...and you're still managing to keep it together. And then there's me, the colossal screw up."

"Don't say that," Elena admonished, reaching over to pull Caroline into a hug, "It's not true, you're amazing. You've been taking care of your mom, and holding your family together...and you're the one I always turn to if I need someone to cheer me up or if I need someone to listen to my bullshit just so you can see through it and tell it to me how it is." Caroline gave a weak laugh, and Elena smiled back. She smoothed Caroline's hair down absentmindedly, "And maybe Tyler has something to tell you, too...?"

Tyler exchanged a panicked look with Elena, but she merely raised an eyebrow. Caroline glanced up at him warily, "What? Are you ending our arrangement?"

"No," he said immediately, "Caroline...I..." He took a deep breath, "Fuck it. I really like you. I liked you before we started this thing between us...why do you think I suggested it? I knew there was no way you would ever go out with me otherwise. Elena hated me, and I knew you guys were best friends, and you wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that."

"What?"

"I tried to get Elena to maybe not hate me so much..." He turned to look at Elena, "I mean, I thought we kinda bonded down there in the locker room."

She smiled at him slightly in acknowledgement. "Maybe we did. I told you, there were these moments recently where I thought I saw the real you. The guy that Matt sees...and the guy that Caroline sees, apparently. The guy behind the bad-boy front you put up when you're around Mason and those other guys on the football team."

Tyler nodded slowly, "Thank you."

Elena straightened, "Well, how about I leave the two of you alone to talk? I've got to get to class, anyway." She turned to Caroline, "I'll see you later?"

"Wait," Tyler called after her as she began walking away. Elena turned around to see him whisper something to Caroline before jogging down the hallway until he was standing in front of her. He hesitated for a second, "Quid pro quo, right?"

"Um, okay?"

"What you just did for me...I feel like I should let you know...yesterday, Matt and I followed you to the treatment center. We were in the parking lot when you and Damon were, er..." He met her gaze, "Long story short, Matt saw you and Damon kissing. Do with that what you will." He nodded at her once and quickly walked away, leaving her staring after him in dismay.

* * *

><p>"Come on in," Alaric greeted Elena several hours later as he opened the door to the Salvatore house, "Damon isn't here right now, but we can talk about what I've learned so far."<p>

"Sounds good," Elena set her bag down on the floor and took a seat on the sofa, looking up at him expectantly. "Any news about Elijah and Rose?"

Alaric eyed her for a second, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," she tried to sound reassuring, "Just stressed about finding Jeremy and getting to the bottom of all this. "So? What did you find out?"

"Okay, let's start at the beginning..." Alaric shifted some folders aside and pulled out one from the bottom. "Vicki Donovan."

"Matt's sister?" Elena asked in confusion, "She died last year from a drug overdose...what does she have to do with anything?"

"So she knew Jeremy?" Alaric asked, "That is to say, they frequented the same circles?"

"Because of the drugs? Well, yeah they knew each other...I think he liked her at one point but they were never together."

"Is it true that she was in a relationship with a Tyler Lockwood?"

"I wouldn't call it a relationship exactly," Elena shrugged, "They hooked up a few times. You could say that Tyler gets around."

"But Vicki got arrested one time, correct? Drug possession? She was sent to rehab? The same treatment facility Jeremy was at before his disappearance?"

"This is Mystic Falls, Ric. Where else would she go?"

Alaric stood up and began pacing back and forth across the length of the living room. "Work with me for a second, Elena." When she nodded, he pulled out a notepad and began reading off it. "Vicki was arrested for drug possession in 2010. Her arresting officer was not anyone we are familiar with; that is to say, the officer no longer works with Mystic Falls PD."

"Okay..."

"The Mikaelsens did work there at this time, however. Vicki is then sent to rehab, where Rose was already working. The time that Vicki spent in rehab overlaps with the time period that Rose began dating Elijah. With me so far?"

"Yes."

"Now, it appeared that Vicki was doing better after her stay at the facility, so it came as a shock when she overdosed within a few months, correct?"

"Yes."

"Prior to this, Jeremy ran into his own issues with the law for the same reasons...after she OD'd, he stopped doing drugs? One would assume this was because he was faced with the consequences of his actions...he turned his life around, got a job, began saving up money. Then, this suicide attempt was out of the blue?"

Elena chewed her lip thoughtfully, "I see that the situations are similar, but I'm not sure what you're getting at."

Alaric sat down next to her, his expression intense. "I'm saying that both Vicki and Jeremy had reason to come into contact with the Michaelsens before any of this happened."

"Jeremy didn't recognize Rebekah," Elena pointed out, "Though I guess they could've both dealt with Elijah and Klaus..."

"And they both had Rose as a therapist...who, in any case, is linked to the Mikaelsens." Alaric handed Elena the folder he had been holding, "Check out who Vicki's lawyer was in the drug possession charges."

Elena's mouth dropped open, "Finn! I thought you said he worked in Washington?"

"He does, now. But back then he was a small town lawyer in Mystic Falls."

She put the folder back down and massaged her temples, feeling a headache coming on. "What does all this mean? You're trying to say that Vicki, Jeremy, Rose, and the entire Mikaelsen family were involved in some drug dealing operation or something?"

"That's what it looks like. And not just them..."

"Who else?"

Alaric didn't say anything for a moment, "How well do you know Matt and Tyler?"

Elena looked at him, startled. "Matt is very much against drugs, especially since he saw what happened to his sister. And besides, he and Tyler are both on football team. There's random drug tests like every week. No way they would be that stupid."

"That remains to be seen," Alaric gestured to his laptop that was sitting on the coffee table. "I've been recording everything that goes down in Rose's office from that bug you planted. Maybe we'll get some more clues."

"Looks like you've gotten a lot already," Elena didn't bother to hide the awe in her voice. "Damon's right, you're good."

"I haven't actually figured anything out yet," Alaric responded, sounding frustrated. "All the pieces of the puzzle are there, I just don't know how they all fit together yet."

Elena tilted her head, "Remember you told me that Cole changed his name in 2005? Did you ever look into what happened that year?"

"No," Alaric mused, "But you're right, that sounds like a good place to start." He gave her a brief smile, "You have a good memory, Miss Gilbert."

The door opened at that moment, and Elena turned around to see Stefan walk in. He was holding a package in his hand, and he looked confused. "Hey," he said to Elena, "Did you start having your mail delivered here or something?"

"No," she stood up, her heart beginning to pound. "What is that? It's addressed to me?"

"Yeah," he held it at an angle so she could read the front, but he didn't give it to her. "It's your name with our address...Ric, what do you think we should do? Give it to the cops? What if it's...I don't know, something dangerous?"

"Not the cops," Elena cut in sharply, "For all we know, they're the ones that sent it."

"I'll open it," Alaric said after a minute, producing a pocket knife. "You two, stand back," he added in a warning tone as he took the package from Stefan.

"Alaric, I don't think this is a good idea..." Elena trailed off, curious in spite of herself as he carefully slit the tape and opened up the flaps of the box. "Oh my god," she breathed as she peered in, recognizing one of the objects almost immediately. "That's Anna's cell phone! Remember, the cops said it was missing from Anna's things..."

"And I bet I can guess what this is," Alaric said grimly as they all stared at the gun lying beside the phone. "The murder weapon."


	13. Luck

**A/N: **chapter 13 in a murder mystery...hmm ;)

* * *

><p>"What should we do?" Elena whispered. The three of them continued staring into the contents of the box for another full minute before Stefan answered her question with a tone of incredulity.<p>

"We're taking this to the cops," he stated, looking as though any other solution would be absurd. "What else would we do with it?"

"We can't dismiss the possibility that they're the ones who sent it," Elena insisted, turning to Alaric for support, "Right?"

Stefan didn't give Ric a chance to respond, and spoke over both of them angrily. "Who cares if the cops are the ones that sent it?" He grabbed the box and shook it to emphasize his point, "The items in here are a direct link to Anna's killer, Elena! You can't keep it with you—what will people think?"

"What people?" Elena shot back, crossing her arms belligerently. While a part of her knew that Stefan had a point, another part of her knew that handing everything over to the Mikaelsens wouldn't be the smartest move.

"Someone is obviously trying to set you up," Stefan snapped, "And you're walking right into their trap if you think holding onto Anna's cell phone and the freakin' murder weapon is a good idea. Back me up here, Ric."

"Stefan's right," Alaric finally spoke, "You shouldn't be caught being in possession of these items, Elena."

"But it's not like we even touched any of it," Elena's voice rose in frustration, "If they check for fingerprints, I mean, it'll be obvious that we had nothing to do with Anna's murder—"

"I don't think a jury will be thinking too closely about whether or not fingerprints were found on items that were found in YOUR possession," Stefan nearly shouted at her. "You know what? I've just about had it with this case—where the hell is Damon? Maybe he'll be able to knock some sense into you."

Elena gaped at Stefan in disbelief. She had never really seen him lose his temper before, but now he looked like he was struggling to keep control. "What's wrong with you?" she demanded, "Why are you getting so upset about this?"

"I'm getting upset," he responded through gritted teeth, "Because our lives have been turned upside down since this whole thing started, and I think it's time we finally stopped being two steps behind whoever is pulling the puppet strings!"

She took a deep breath and counted to ten in her head, willing herself to see things from his perspective. "Alright," she said eventually, "What do you want me to do?"

* * *

><p>"Well, well," Rebekah smiled coolly as she walked towards them, "I heard you wanted to speak to me?"<p>

Elena shifted the box against her hip, glancing at Stefan who nodded at her encouragingly. "Do you have an office where we can speak privately?"

Rebekah pursed her lips, eying them suspiciously. "Where is that private investigator of yours? Will he not be joining us today?"

"Mr. Saltzman is otherwise occupied," Elena answered swiftly, "And he really has nothing to do with this."

The detective considered the two of them for another moment before gesturing for them to follow her, "My office is just through these doors. Come along."

Stefan was the last one into the office, and he made sure to close the door firmly behind him before taking a seat next to Elena. "When I got home from school, this package was waiting on my porch," he said to Rebekah, watching her expression carefully. "But it wasn't addressed to me or Damon."

"Speaking of the eldest Salvatore," Rebekah tilted her head curiously, "Where is he? I'm surprised he allowed you to come speak to me by yourself..." She trailed off with a chilly smile, "Quite protective of you, isn't he?"

"She's not by herself," Stefan pointed out, "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Damon is at work," Elena explained as she placed the box on the desk in front of her, "And this couldn't wait."

Rebekah fingered the outside of the box, but made no move to look inside it. "I see the package is addressed to you, Elena...and I also see that you appear to have opened it. Did it not occur to you that you shouldn't open a suspicious package? There's not even a return address...really, what do they teach you down there at the high school?"

"Mystic Falls is a safe town," Elena said defensively, though she could feel her cheeks flush with the inaccuracy of that statement. "Well, it used to be before all this happened!"

"I find that hard to believe," Rebekah finally stood up and pulled the box towards her so that she could peer into it. There were several seconds of hushed silence as she stared at the contents. Then, abruptly, her entire demeanor changed. Gone was the overconfident and arrogant detective, and in her place stood a scared, young girl. "Where did you get these things?"

Elena frowned at the waver in Rebekah's voice, and she exchanged a startled look with Stefan. "We told you the truth," she replied uncertainly, "Er, are you alright, detective?"

"I..." Rebekah licked her lips, looking like she was fighting to keep her composure. "I need to speak to my brothers about these developments. Would you excuse me for one second?"

Stefan and Elena stared after her in bewilderment as she hurried out the door without waiting for their response. "What on earth was that about?" Elena hissed, "Did you notice how worried she was?"

"Do you think this means that she didn't send you that package?"

A voice from the doorway interrupted their discussion, "Elena."

She looked up, giving a small smile of acknowledgment. "Elijah. I assume your sister has filled you in on what's been going on?"

"Yes, she just told me," Elijah walked more fully into the room so that he could pick up the box and examine the items within it for himself. "Interesting," he remarked, handing the box over to another cop who was waiting by the doorway. "We'll have to test these for fingerprints, of course," he paused, "You didn't touch either of these items, did you?"

"No," Elena reassured him, "We didn't. We know better than that."

He nodded approvingly, "I'm glad to hear that. Now let's just hope that luck is on our side and all the fingerprints haven't been wiped off."

Elena frowned, the thought previously haven't had occurred to her. "Is that likely?"

"Elijah!" Rebekah appeared at the doorway, looking frantic. "I can't find Niklaus anywhere. Have you seen him since this morning?"

His brow furrowed and he quickly exited the office, murmuring an apology to Elena and Stefan as he shut the door. The message was clear: they weren't to leave the room.

Stefan leaned back in his chair, looking contemplative. "So Klaus goes missing on the day that you get this package? Suspicious, right?"

"Not as suspicious as Elijah and Rebekah putting on this little act for us," she muttered back, "Seriously, are you buying any of this?"

He raised a surprised eyebrow, "You think they're acting?"

"I wouldn't put it past them."

"But—"

At that moment, however, Elena's cell phone rang. "It's Caroline," she said to Stefan, "I should probably get this...apparently I've been a bad friend lately."

He hid a smile, "Go ahead. I'll go get us some water or something."

She mouthed a 'thanks' at him before holding the phone up to her ear, "Hey Care, I'm actually kind of in the middle of something at the police station...what? No, Damon isn't with me, he's still at work." She frowned, "Well that new waitress Lexi should be able to help you out...what do you mean she's not there either? Who's working there right now?"

* * *

><p>Stefan sipped water from the paper cup at the water fountain, his expression growing concerned as he watched Elena through the glass walls of Rebekah's office. Elena appeared to be growing increasingly agitated about something, and she nearly flew out of the office a second later. "Stefan, we have to go—"<p>

"Whoa, what's going on?" he caught her by the arms as she ran towards him, her eyes wild. "Jesus, you're so pale, Elena...maybe you should sit down."

"No, there's no time for that!" she gripped his arms tightly, "That was Caroline...she said that The Grill was completely deserted when she showed up for her shift...as in NO ONE was there."

Stefan shook his head, confused. "Well, business has been going downhill since the shooting..."

"No, I'm not talking about customers!" she said in a harsh whisper, "There was no one working there, Stefan! No Lexi or Damon..."

He abruptly straightened, adrenaline spiking through his body. "Damon wasn't there? Then where the hell is he?" He immediately pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed the first button on his speed-dial, ignoring Elena as she began dragging him out of the station hurriedly.

"I already tried calling him, his phone is shut off," she said impatiently as she urged him to walk faster. "Come on, we have to get out of—"

"Elena?"

She stared up in dismay at the figure now blocking their exit. "Elijah. I thought you were looking for your brother...did you find him?"

"No," his voice was strained, "We did not. Exactly where do you think you're going? You haven't even been questioned yet."

"Questioned?" she let go of Stefan's arm and moved so that Elijah was forced to shift away from the door in order to keep eye contact with her. "What on earth for? I'm not the one on trial here!"

"No one is on trial," Elijah took a step forward even as she took several steps backwards. "But you DID just walk in here holding evidence pertaining to this murder investigation. You understand why we need to question you, right?"

Behind him, Stefan stood by the door, his eyes fixed on Elena. She gave him a barely imperceptible nod, signaling him to leave while Elijah was distracted. Without being told twice, Stefan immediately turned on his heel and fairly whirled out the door.

"Fine," Elena heaved an exaggerated sigh, "But make it quick. I have places to be."

Elijah looked taken aback at her sudden change of heart, and he narrowed his eyes at her. She blinked back at him innocently. Two seconds later, he suddenly turned around and grimaced when he saw that Stefan wasn't there.

"Anything wrong Mr. Mikaelsen?" Elena asked, adopting a formal tone when she saw the anger glinting across his expression.

"Smart maneuver, Ms. Gilbert," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back through the double doors and towards Rebekah's office.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she responded defiantly, wrenching her arm out of his grip and throwing herself into the nearest chair. "How long are you planning on keeping me here?"

"Cut the theatrics, Elena," he shook his head and backed out of the room, calling one of the officers over. "Make sure she doesn't leave," he ordered, "I'll be back shortly."

Elena glared after him. She waited until the officer was looking the other way before she pulled out her cell phone and quickly texted Stefan.

**TO STEFAN: did you get to The Grill? What's going on?**

The reply came back almost immediately.

**TO ELENA: I just got here. Caroline is right. There's no one here. Damon is missing. **


	14. Mission

**A/N: **haha so I see people weren't too pleased with Damon's disappearance! Since I'll be wrapping up this fic soon, this chapter delves straight into solving a lot of the mystery ;)

* * *

><p>Damon half-heartedly tugged at the ropes binding his wrists, but the rough material only chafed against his already raw skin and he inwardly winced.<p>

"Any luck over there?" Lexi called to him, and he threw her a disparaging look. His gaze lingered on the handcuffs around her wrists, which were locked around a metal railing. Even though she was halfway across the room, he could still see the blood on her hands from her efforts to escape.

He bit back a groan as he looked around the basement of The Grill. There wasn't a single weapon within reasonable distance. "We're screwed, aren't we?"

"It ain't over till it's over, is what I always say."

Damon raised an eyebrow at her, beginning to get an inkling that perhaps she hadn't been honest with him about who she was. "Let me guess," he mused as he made a show of looking her over, "You're undercover."

The corner of Lexi's mouth lifted in a smile, "You've been watching too many detective movies, Mr. Salvatore."

"So I'm wrong?" he pressed, and was gratified when she didn't answer his question. Instead, she tilted her head and studied him for a moment, as though deciding if he was trustworthy enough to hear the truth. "Come on, Lexi," he cajoled, gesturing to their current predicament, "Look at where we are…I deserve to hear this story, don't you think?" He flashed her his signature grin, and she shook her head at him. He was relieved, however, to see that she looked vaguely amused.

"Ever the charmer, Damon Salvatore." There was a clink as she pulled at her handcuffs again, and she sighed as they didn't budge. Damon couldn't help the admiration that flitted across his face when he noticed she didn't show any signs of pain as her bloodied wrists shifted.

"I can be charming when I want to be."

"I've noticed," she said dryly. Then she straightened and shrugged, though her motions were hindered by the handcuffs. "I'm with the DEA. Do you know what that is?"

"Drug enforcement," Damon said slowly, his mind whirling. _So, Alaric had been right._ He looked at her curiously, "What are you doing in Mystic Falls?"

"I think you know."

"Every town has its issues."

"Sure," Lexi agreed, "Though you have to admit that three deaths is cause for alarm, yes?"

"Three?" Damon could feel a sense of panic rising, "Did something else happen? Is Elena—"

"No," she assured him quickly, "I was merely referring to Vicki Donovan, Jeremy Gilbert, and of course Anna…"

"Jeremy isn't dead."

Lexi leveled him a look, "But he tried to commit suicide…and then he was kidnapped."

Damon stared at her unsmilingly, "So were we."

"Speaking of which, any chance you got a good look at the guy who knocked you out?"

"Nope," Damon responded, popping the 'p' unnecessarily. "One minute I was pouring a drink, and the next minute I'm tied up in this damn basement."

"At least we know where we are," Lexi said encouragingly, "That's a good sign."

"Is it?"

She nodded, "If we know where we are, then odds are that someone else will figure it out too."

"Oh yeah, if we don't die first of course…" Damon leaned back against the wall and glanced at Lexi, "So, what's the story here? What are those pesky little Mikealsens up to?"

"Perhaps we should start at the beginning," Lexi mused, contemplating. "I know your brother goes to Mystic Academy, but you know several people that attend the public high school, correct?"

"Three of my employees," Damon nodded, frowning as he wondered where this line of questioning was going. "Elena, and her two friends Caroline and Matt."

"Have they ever spoken to you about a teacher at the high school named Andie Starr?"

He paused, distinctly remembering both Elena and Caroline's attitudes about that particular teacher. "Yes, actually. Their History teacher, I believe. I've heard that she isn't very fair…"

"She's notorious for giving preferential treatment to students on the football team," Lexi supplied, glancing up at him to note his reaction to her next statement. "Especially to Tyler and Mason Lockwood."

"Ah, the mayor's prodigal sons."

Lexi gave him a slightly ironic smile, "If I wasn't handcuffed to this pole, then this would be the part where I lean in to whisper in your ear conspiratorially."

Damon's eyebrows shot up, "Are you saying the mayor is involved in all this somehow?"

"Where do you think Mayor Lockwood got all that money to run his campaign?"

"The Lockwoods have always been one of the richest families in Mystic Falls...What are you getting at?" When Lexi merely continued gazing at him, he scoffed in disbelief. "Drug money? You've got to be kidding me!"

"Mayor Lockwood has long been aware of the drug problem at the high school—"

"High school?" Damon hissed, "As in, Elena's school?"

Lexi gave him a strange look, looking askance at why he hadn't put the pieces together already. "Most of the players on the football team…they're in charge of distributing the drugs to the student body. Andie collects the money, and she hands over a sizeable portion to the mayor."

"_WHAT_? How the fuck is the mayor even connected to Andie?"

"Language," Lexi admonished, before smirking at him, "They're sleeping together."

Damon scowled, "Of course they are."

"Vicki Donovan was sort of dating Tyler Lockwood before she died, wasn't she?"

"I have no idea."

"We believe he was supplying her with the drugs…that is, until the day she got arrested. She was forced to enter rehab, where she visited with a therapist named Rose."

Damon narrowed his eyes, fully paying attention now. "Yes, that was Jeremy's therapist as well. My private investigator already suspected her of being involved in this cover-up."

Lexi shook her head vehemently, "No, Rose is one of the good guys."

"Excuse me?"

"She works with us…she's been trying to get to the bottom of this drug operation for a while. Rose offered Vicki a deal to give us information about the mayor and Andie…"

Damon suddenly remembered how Vicki had turned her life around after rehab—until the day she had met a fatal overdose. "They found out," he breathed, "And they killed her."

"Well, there's no solid proof of that," Lexi pursed her lips, "But yes, that's what we believe happened."

"I almost don't want to ask," Damon said hesitantly, "But Jeremy?"

"We have reason to believe he received his drug supply from Matt Donovan."

Damon laughed aloud at that, "Now that's where you're wrong. Matt is too much of a stickler for the rules. He would never sell."

"Oh really?" Lexi tilted her head at him, "Didn't his father leave their family with nothing after the divorce? And his mother couldn't hold onto a steady job because of her drinking? They were going to lose their home, Damon."

The grin slid off his face as he noted the seriousness in her tone. "What, so he decided to sell to get some quick cash? He would never do that—especially not to Jeremy. He's been dating the kid's sister, for Christ's sakes!"

"Jeremy was arrested several times," Lexi went on as though she hadn't heard him, "And during the most recent time, he was approached by Elijah Mikealsen, one of the officers at the station—"

"I know who he is," Damon interrupted with a frown, "What did Elijah want from him?"

"The same thing that Rose wanted."

"No, the Mikealsens aren't—"

"The Mystic Falls PD has been working closely with the DEA on this matter," she spoke over him, "And Elijah wanted nothing more than to take the mayor down."

"But he dated Rose," Damon sputtered incredulously, "I thought…"

"Yes, this investigation is how they met. But that's beside the point," Lexi sighed, looking saddened. "Once Jeremy quit taking the drugs, he was watched very closely by the mayor and his people. I guess they got suspicious about Jeremy blowing the lid on their whole operation. They tried to kill him, and make it look like a suicide." She paused and then added, "Obviously, they failed. Rose and Elijah decided the safest place for Jeremy would be within the confines of the rehab center, where he would be under constant watch."

"But he was kidnapped!" Damon burst out angrily, "Or do you have an explanation for that too?"

Lexi shook her head, "His kidnapping is a direct result of the investigation into Anna's murder."

He stiffened, "So then you know who killed her?"

She answered without preamble, "Without a doubt, it was Klaus Mikealsen."

Damon gaped at her before recovering his bearings, "But you just told me that the Mikealsens were on our side!"

"Elijah and Rebekah have been extremely valuable to the DEA, as has been their brother, Finn. I don't know if your P.I. dug back far enough, but Finn was the lawyer that got Vicki's sentence reduced to just community service and mandatory rehab."

"Yes," Damon replied testily, "Alaric was able to find that information. Now back to this Klaus thing—"

"Klaus and the other Mikealsen brother, Cole…well, I guess you could call them the bad seeds in the family."

"Why do you think they're involved?"

Lexi shifted, growing restless. "Anna went to visit Jeremy two days before she was killed, did you know that?"

Damon stared at her in surprise. "She visited him at the rehab center? No, I didn't know that…she never said anything to anyone. She never even told Elena that, come to think of it."

"We believe she went there under Matt Donovan and Tyler Lockwood's orders. They had to know if Jeremy was going to spill the beans to anyone, but they couldn't call suspicion onto themselves…"

"And what did Jeremy tell her?"

Lexi glanced at him briefly, "We don't know how much he told her, but it was enough to get her killed. She probably confided in her boyfriend, Cole, not knowing that Klaus was involved."

"Cole told Klaus, and then Klaus…"

"Murdered her to keep her mouth shut, yes. She knew too much."

Damon let the ominous sentence hang in the air between them, letting the silence grow as he tried to comprehend even an ounce of what he had learned in the past twenty minutes. "Did Elijah and Rebekah know what Klaus was up to?"

"They're the ones that told me they suspected his involvement, but exposing Klaus as a double agent was tricky. These past couple of weeks couldn't have been easy on him…Elijah and Rebekah were both determined to get to the bottom of this case, and he had to go along with it. I imagine that's why he tried to cast suspicion on Matt Donovan. I heard that they dragged him in for questioning when his past with Anna was revealed?"

"Yeah, they did," Damon responded distractedly, another thought having had just occurred to him. "Hold on just a second—exactly who kidnapped Jeremy? Alaric said that whoever did the kidnapping had to have inside help."

"Most likely Klaus and Cole…and I'm guessing Rose was the 'inside help' you're referring to."

Damon could feel a headache coming on, "You just said that Rose was working with the DEA!"

"Yes, she was," Lexi agreed, "But Klaus threatened to kill Elijah if Rose didn't help him. And she still loved…or cared…about him. So, she had to go along with it."

"Alright, I can buy that," Damon said grimly, "But…" He fell silent at the sudden creak from near the top of the staircase, and he twisted his head around. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

The unmistakable sound of a door swinging open.

Then footsteps.

Damon stared in apprehension at the staircase, waiting until the footsteps came close enough to reveal...

"Well, well," Klaus stepped into the basement, an insane grin flitting across his features. "Looks like you've heard the whole story now, haven't you, Damon Salvatore?"

"Let us go, Klaus!" Lexi shouted at him, struggling against her handcuffs once again. "You've already killed once, do you really want—"

"Yes," Klaus said easily, walking closer to them. In the semi-darkness, his eyes glinted, "So, I really have nothing left to lose, do I?"

* * *

><p><span>Upstairs<span>

"Thank god he didn't see us," Caroline whispered shakily to Stefan. They were crouched in a dark corner behind the bar, and had been for the past forty minutes. "What do we do now?"

Stefan lifted a finger to his lips to signal her to be quiet, and he hastily dialed Alaric's number into his phone. "Hey," he said in an undertone, "Were you able to record all that? The confession and everything?"

"Got it," Alaric's reply was immediate, "I'm out in the parking lot. You two need to get out of there, NOW."

"I'll send Caroline out," Stefan glanced at the blonde next to him, "But I'm not leaving."

"Stefan, you listen to me right now," Alaric growled, sounding enraged, "You're only going to get yourself killed. Get out before Klaus notices that you two are still in there!"

"This is my brother we're talking about," Stefan responded shortly, "I'm not leaving him behind."

"The cops are on their way—"

"We've all heard that one before," he hung up his phone and shoved it into his pocket before turning to look at Caroline. "Look at me," he said softly, inching closer to her so that he could place his hands on her shoulders. "Alaric is waiting outside. I need you to run to the door as fast you can and get into his car, alright? Wait for the cops, then tell them what's going on here, and..." He trailed off in annoyance, "Why are you shaking your head at me?'

"If you think I'm letting you go down there by yourself, then you're crazy," she stated, raising her chin defiantly. "I'm not leaving here without you."

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Ric," Stefan hissed, "Damon is down there, and I'm not abandoning him to deal with Klaus on his own!"

Caroline nodded and gave him a small smile, "I understand. He's your brother."

He nearly sighed in relief, "Great, so I'll count to three then I want you to run towards...why are you looking at me like that?"

"He's your brother," she repeated, and raised herself slightly so that she could open the nearest drawer. She rummaged within the contents for a few seconds, muttering to herself until she found what she was looking for. "Aha, here it is," she turned to Stefan, and he was taken aback to see her holding a gun. "So," she squared her shoulders, "What's the plan?"


	15. Rescue

**A/N: **thank you for all your reviews! glad to see most people were surprised by the "background" story of the mystery! There were little hints scattered throughout all the chapters leading up to the big revelation :)

* * *

><p>Alaric tapped his fingers impatiently alongside the window of his car. <em>Where were those damn cops? <em>He shot a paranoid glance through his rearview mirror before hastily hiding his recording equipment and the tape that held Klaus' confession. The last thing he needed was to be ambushed right when he finally got his hands on some solid evidence...

Seconds after he had placed everything pertaining to the case out of immediate eyesight, he heard the soft rumblings of a car engine enter the parking lot. He peered out of the side mirror, relieved to see a familiar nondescript car pull into the parking spot behind him. He had seen Rebekah driving a similar car when she was on duty, and he began to get out of his car to go ask her if backup was on the way.

However, the car door on the driver's side opened just then, and Alaric froze before muttering an oath under his breath. The man who got out of the car wasn't someone that Alaric had expected—or wanted—to see.

Cole Mikealsen smiled as he strolled casually towards Alaric's car and rested his hand on the window in a vaguely threatening manner. "And you must be the infamous private investigator," he said in an accented voice, "I suppose you know who I am?"

Alaric studied the man standing next to him for a second, deciding whether it was worth it to play dumb. After assessing Cole's demeanor, he sighed and rested his head against the back of the carseat. "Yes, I suppose I do. What are you doing so far from NYU territory?"

Cole grinned and jerked his head, "I think you know the answer to that, Mr. Saltzman. Now, why don't you make this easy for us and step out of the car?"

"I think I'm fine in here, thanks."

His expression grew less amused, "Don't be stupid, Ric. Get out of the car before we have a problem."

Alaric held Cole's gaze, doing his best to keep the other man distracted while he subtly tried to reach behind his seat for the gun he kept for situations like this. "And tell me why exactly I should listen to you?"

Cole abruptly produced a gun and held it up to Alaric's head. "Because I have this," he replied pleasantly, "And because you're still trying to reach yours behind that seat. What did I tell you about not doing anything stupid?"

Alaric stiffened and slowly raised both hands, "Alright, alright, calm down. I'm getting out of the car."

"Good man."

Cole took several steps backwards to allow Alaric to open the door, but he nonetheless kept the gun carefully trained on him.

"Where to?" Alaric asked sarcastically as Cole roughly pushed him in the direction of his own car. "Going to kidnap me, too? Just like you did that innocent—"

Cole gave a mirthless laugh, "Jeremy Gilbert was no innocent." As if to prove his point, he clicked his trunk open then and nodded at Alaric. "Go on, take a look inside."

Very suspiciously, Alaric inched forward until he could see what Cole was pointing to. "Holy shit," he gasped, "Jeremy!"

* * *

><p>"Alright, remember the plan," Stefan whispered to Caroline, "I'll be right at the top of the stairs in case anything goes wrong."<p>

She took a deep breath and nodded as she handed him the gun. "Got it," she whispered back as she armed herself with a half-empty bottle of vodka in one hand and her cell phone in the other. She stared at the door to the basement apprehensively, "Well, here goes nothing."

"Be careful," Stefan said seriously, reaching out spontaneously to give her a one-armed hug.

When he hesitantly pulled back, she was gazing at him with unreadable eyes. However, she flashed him a small smile as she got to her feet. "I will," she promised, straightening as she walked over to the door and flung it open with a flourish. "Like, oh my god, you totally have to get down to The Grill," Caroline squealed into her cell phone as she thumped loudly down the staircase. "There's like free booze everywhere, can you say PART-AY?"

She laughed as she made a show of unsteadily tripping down the final few stairs and grabbing the railing as she spun around with the vodka bottle raised to her lips.

"CAROLINE?"

She came to a halt, widening her eyes dramatically as she caught sight of Damon tied up to a furnace of some sort. "Oh shit," she giggled into her phone, "My boss is here, Aimee! I gotta go!" No sooner had she spoken the words did someone suddenly grab her wrist in an unbreakable grip. "Oops," she laughed as her phone clattered to the ground, "My bad."

"Who the hell are you?"

She looked up at who was holding her, and breathed out in admiration, "Ooh, your eyes are so blue!" Then she purposefully slurred her words, "Who are you?"

Klaus didn't let go of her wrist, and angrily pulled her closer, "Who was that on the phone, girl?"

"The phone?" Caroline acted confused as she stared at the ground where her phone was lying. "Oh! That was my BFF Aimee!" she announced proudly, "I told her to come check out the free booze!" To emphasize her point, she took a swig of the vodka she was still holding and at the same time managed to spin out of Klaus' grip. Her gaze landed on Lexi, and Caroline paused, tilting her head. "Oh wait!" she hopped up and down excitedly as she turned around to look at Damon, "Is this like a threesome or something?"

"Caroline," Damon growled through gritted teeth, "What are you doing here?"

"I always knew you were kinky," she swayed her hips as she walked towards him, "But I pegged you for the type of guy who'd do two girls at the same time, not..." She waved a hand dismissively in Klaus' direction, "Not that guy, whoever he is...Though, I gotta admit, he's pretty hot. Where did you find him?"

Damon was staring up at her, his eyes narrowing. She turned her back on Klaus so that only Damon could see her expression, and she widened her eyes at him, trying to signal that she was actually completely sober. He seemed to get the hint at the same time that Klaus grabbed her arm again. She jumped and let the bottle slip through her fingers so that it crashed onto the ground. "Oh no," she complained petulantly as she looked down at the scattered glass pieces, "My vodka!"

"I think you've had enough to drink, sweetheart," Klaus didn't take his eyes off hers, and she used the opportunity to use her heel to shove one of the large glass pieces in Damon's direction. She didn't dare look back to see if she had succeeded, and instead she giggled again as she fell against Klaus.

His arms automatically encircled her waist to catch her, and she placed her hands on his chest to steady herself. "Wow," she pretended to be mesmerized as she ran her hands down his biceps, "I can tell you work out. What are you, some sort of fireman or something?"

"Or something," Klaus muttered darkly as he stared down at her. Whether he realized it or not, she could feel his fingers absentmindedly stroking her back, belying any notion that he wasn't attracted to her. Caroline bit on her lip seductively as she pressed herself more fully into his chest. And, just like she had predicted, his expression briefly gleamed with lust.

"You're so hot," she slurred, grabbing the front of his shirt and whipping them around in a circle so that his back was to Damon. She pretended to stumble backwards into the pole behind her, and she pulled Klaus forward to follow her momentum. "Kiss me," she murmured, hiding a smile as Klaus instantly lowered his lips to hers.

Behind them, Damon immediately went to work on sawing the ropes off his hands with the glass piece that Caroline had kicked near him. He held back a groan as the ragged edges of the glass sliced his thumb, but he was rewarded a minute later when he felt the bonds loosening.

Caroline moaned out loud, and Damon glanced up to see Klaus' hands eagerly roaming her body as he buried his face into her neck. Damon caught Caroline's eye, and she wrinkled her nose in distaste. He grinned as he silently stood up and showed her his freed hands. She winked at him and clutched onto Klaus' hair to keep him in place as Damon slowly inched forward.

When Damon was close enough, he held his breath as his hand shot out to grab Klaus' gun out of the back of his waistband. Klaus immediately whirled around, looking shocked when he saw Damon holding his gun. "What the hell?" he roared, "How did you get free?"

"My little secret," Damon smirked, never taking his eyes off Klaus. "I assume the cops are on their way?"

Klaus spun around to look at Caroline, who had straightened up and crossed her arms. She smiled at him coldly, "That's right, they are."

"You..." he suddenly lunged forward and wrapped his hand around her throat as he shoved her against the pole. "You little bitch," he hissed and tightened his grip on her as she gasped for air, "You think you can play me?"

"Let her go," Damon shouted, but Klaus abruptly pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and held it up to Caroline's throat.

"Or what?" he taunted, letting the blade shallowly nick the skin so that blood trickled down her neck. "Come any closer and the next cut will be deeper."

Damon hesitated, clearly not knowing what to do. He glanced at Lexi, who was still chained to the handcuffs. She looked back at him helplessly, "I'd do as he says—"

"DROP IT."

"Oh thank god," Caroline managed to say as everyone turned around in surprise to see Stefan standing at the bottom of the staircase, the gun held out in front of him.

"I said, drop it," Stefan repeated to Klaus, "Or I will shoot."

Klaus glanced from Stefan to Damon before sneering, "Well, if it isn't the precious Salvatore brothers." He laughed derisively before turning back to look at Stefan, "You don't have the nerve."

"Wanna bet?"

"Come any closer and your little blonde friend here is a goner," Klaus snapped, eying Stefan as he took another step forward.

"You know what I think?" Stefan tilted his head, "I think you talk too much. Wouldn't you agree, Damon?"

"Yes," Damon agreed, "I think you do." Then he shot the gun, straight at Klaus' heart.

* * *

><p>"Mystic Falls PD!" a voice shouted, "Everyone put your hands up!" Elijah came storming down the stairs a second later, his gaze scanning the room frantically. A small ounce of pain crossed his face when he saw Klaus' dead body lying on the ground, but at the same time he looked resigned. "Everyone drop their weapons," he added to Damon and Stefan, who both complied reluctantly.<p>

"Is everyone alright?" Rebekah entered the basement with four other police officers, and Damon noticed she purposefully did not look in Klaus' direction. She nodded at one of the officers, "Go get Lexi out of those handcuffs." Then she motioned to another one, "And you. Get the medics. Tell them we have one dead body and..." She glanced between Damon's bleeding hands, Caroline's throat, and Lexi's bloodied wrists, "And three others who need medical attention."

"Alaric," Stefan said to Rebekah urgently, "He was supposed to be waiting for you outside."

"He suffered a small concussion," she informed him, watching from the corner of her eye as the medics examined Klaus' body. "It seems as though Cole knocked him out and planned to stuff him in his trunk along with Jeremy Gilbert."

"Jeremy?" Damon repeated hopefully, "He's...?"

"Yes," she confirmed tiredly, "Jeremy is alive and well. We have him in custody now."

"Ric has a recording of Klaus confessing to everything," Caroline said as she was led upstairs by one of the medics, "I don't know if you can use it in court or not, but it's something."

Stefan stepped forward and clapped a hand onto Damon's shoulder. Then he glared at him sternly, "You're never to scare me like that again, understood?"

The corners of Damon's mouth lifted, "You're one to talk."

"You're the only family I have left," Stefan replied quietly, "I couldn't let anything happen to you." He squeezed his shoulder one more time before gesturing up the stairs, "I'm going to make sure Caroline is alright."

Damon nodded and watched his brother disappear up the staircase before turning to look at Elijah and Rebekah, "Well, you two certainly cut it pretty close."

"It took us a while to deal with the Cole situation," Rebekah began to explain, but she was interrupted by footsteps hurrying down the stairs.

"Damon."

He looked up to see Elena standing on the other side of the room, a million emotions flickering across her face. "God, Elena," he breathed, "You're okay."

Before he knew what was happening, she was running across the room and throwing herself into his arms, her legs wrapping around his waist as he stumbled backwards. He managed to steady himself, however, and grabbed ahold of her like she was his only lifeline in the midst of a vast ocean. It was only then that he noticed she was sobbing uncontrollably, "I th-thought—that Klaus had—oh my god, I was so worried—"

"I know, I know," he murmured, rubbing soothing circles onto her back, "Shh, it's all over now, okay? Klaus is dead, everything is going to be alright."

Elena nodded into his shoulder, and then lifted her head so that she could meet his gaze. Damon swallowed as he stared up at her and cautiously used his thumb to wipe away her tears. "I was afraid I had lost you," she whispered, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, "I thought..."

"You'll never lose me," Damon gripped her even more tightly, "I promise. I—"

"Love you," they both then said simultaneously.

Damon's eyes widened with surprise.

But then she was kissing him like her life depended on it.

* * *

><p>*<em>many of you were wondering when the DE reunion was going to happen, hope you liked it! ;) _


	16. Aftermath

**A/N: **Here we are at the final chapter! I tried to go through the fic and make sure I addressed all the unanswered questions so far ;) enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Aunt Jenna!" Elena let go of Damon's hand and ran towards her aunt, who was talking to an EMT. "You got my messages? I thought you were at work, I didn't think your bosses were going to let you—"<p>

"Sweetie," Jenna wrapped her arms around Elena tightly, effectively cutting off her ramblings. "Yes, I got your messages. My bosses were more than understanding when I told them that my missing nephew had just been found." She pulled back and peered at Elena questioningly, "Are you alright? They told me that you went down into that basement…"

Elena nodded, glancing over her aunt's shoulder to where Damon was standing. "It's okay, Jenna. They didn't let me down there till they knew it was safe." Her eyes hardened almost imperceptibly, "Klaus is dead."

Jenna looked grim, "No more than he deserved, based on what these officers have been telling me."

Elena looked around the area once, but only spotted Damon, Elijah, and Rebekah. "Where did everyone else go? Jeremy, Stefan, Caroline, and Alaric…I thought they would be up here."

Apparently having had overheard, Elijah approached them. He turned to Elena first, and she felt a twinge at the despondency in his gaze. When all was said and done, Klaus was still his brother. Thinking about Jeremy and Matt, she could vaguely understand what he was feeling. "I'm sorry," she said before he could say anything. "About Klaus," she elaborated, "He was still your family."

Elijah blinked in surprise before giving her a small smile, "Well, I can see what he sees in you."

She frowned, "Klaus?"

"Damon."

"Oh," Elena blushed and cast a furtive glance from the corner of her eye towards her Jenna. Her aunt, however, didn't look fazed in the slightest.

"Anyway," Elijah consulted his cell phone as he continued, "Alaric and Jeremy were both taken to the hospital. Nothing serious, but we thought it best that they be checked out as soon as possible. They'll probably be cleared to head on home soon, if you want to go down there to wait for them."

"And what about Elena's friend?" Jenna asked worriedly, "Caroline? She's blonde and—"

"I know who she is," Elijah turned around and gestured to his sister, "Bex, do you know where Caroline Forbes and Stefan Salvatore disappeared to?"

"They left in an ambulance a few minutes ago," Rebekah called back, "I wanted to make sure Caroline didn't need stitches on her neck." Then she pointed at Damon, "Speaking of which, make sure he gets down to the hospital before his wrists bleed out. I'm going to stay here and make sure all the evidence from the crime scene gets taken care of."

"Oh quit being so dramatic," Damon grumbled as an EMT tried to herd him towards an ambulance. "I'm fine, really."

Elijah wasn't hearing any of it. "Get in," he ordered, "They'll get you cleaned up and then take you down to Mystic General."

Elena gazed down the parking lot to where Rebekah was standing next to a squad car and speaking to someone sitting in the back. Seized by a sudden suspicion, Elena turned towards her aunt. "Can you go with Damon in the ambulance? I'll meet you guys at the hospital. There's just something I have to do first."

"What? What do you have to do?"

"Please, just trust me on this," Elena said quietly, very aware of the fact that Elijah was frowning at her disapprovingly. "I have to do something."

* * *

><p>She heard his footsteps behind her, but she paid no heed as she merely quickened her own pace across the parking lot. "Elena, wait...would you please just hold on one second?"<p>

"Why? So you can try and talk me out of it?"

Elijah finally grabbed her arm and forced her to come to a halt, "Look at me."

She stubbornly kept facing the other way, and pulled out of his grasp so that she could cross her arms defiantly. "I want to speak to him."

"Elena," he sounded exasperated, "You think you're going to get closure or...I don't know...answers of some sort? Well, trust me, you're not."

She turned around to look at him then, "I don't know what I need right now. All I know is that the man in that car," she pointed, "Has been responsible for making my life a living hell these past couple of weeks. Klaus is dead, and now there's no one that I—" She sucked in a large breath of air, commanding herself not to break down in tears again. "Just five minutes, I promise."

Elijah didn't look happy, but he signaled for her to follow him as he led the way to the car. "What are you doing?" Rebekah snapped as they neared her, "We've already read him his rights. He's not going to talk without a lawyer."

"That's alright," Elijah responded, glancing at Elena warningly, "This won't take long." He tapped the back window and then opened the car door, "Come on Cole, out of the car."

Cole Mikealsen looked up at all of them with an air of disdain, "What?"

"I worked with Anna," Elena stared down at him impassively, "She was so happy that she was going to see you that weekend. How could you let her be killed like that?"

"Klaus is my brother," Cole responded in a flat voice, "I had to make sure he was protected."

"Unbelievable," she hissed, ignoring Elijah's warning hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him off and stepped closer to Cole, "What about my car? Why did Klaus kill her in MY car?"

"To send a message. He knew it would eventually reach Jeremy's ears."

"And the phone calls?" Elena demanded, "The ones to my cell phone? What was the point of that?"

Cole leered up at her, "Scare tactics. Did it work?"

"Knock it off," Elijah said sharply, before turning to Elena. "Did you get what you were looking for? I told you that you wouldn't get any closure—"

"One more minute," she insisted, not looking away from Cole. "Our private detective discovered that you changed your name from Kol to Cole in 2005. You must've only been 14 or 15 years old...Were you hiding from someone?"

He looked slightly surprised that she knew this information, and he frowned up at her. "I changed my name after our mother died. She's the one that named me with that...unique...branding. I didn't want..." He trailed off, and somehow Elena understood. It was probably the most human thing he had said to her in the entirety of their conversation.

"Alright," she said, changing the subject, "You and Klaus sent the murder weapon and Anna's cell phone to the Salvatore house, addressed to me. Why?"

"I had nothing to do with that," Cole snapped, "Maybe you should ask Klaus...oh wait, you CAN'T. Because he's dead."

Remembering Jenna's words, Elena repeated coldly, "No more than he deserved. Goodbye Cole. I hope you rot in jail."

Elijah shook his head and took her arm to lead her away, "Come on, I'll drive you down to the hospital so you can check in on your brother and friends." As she silently got into the passenger seat of his car, he held the door open and glanced down at her. "Well, did you get what you were looking for? Closure?"

"Maybe not closure," Elena held his gaze steadily, "But at least I got some answers."

* * *

><p>Caroline curled herself on the sofa as she read through the school newspaper. "Wow," she commented lightly, "The gym is being renovated again, they're adding another wing to the library, AND they're ordering a bunch of new laptops for the computer lab."<p>

Elena huffed in disbelief as she took the newsletter out of her friend's hands so she could read the latest postings for herself. "Of course," she said sarcastically, "The football players' parents have to throw a bunch of money at the school so that their sons aren't kicked out for being juvenile delinquents."

"I just don't get why the whole lot of them can't transfer over to Mystic Academy," Caroline pursed her lips in distaste, "Then we would be rid of them forever."

Stefan grinned as he entered the living room, clearly having had overheard their conversation. "It's because Mystic Academy has standards," he informed them in a faux-superior tone, "They wouldn't cut it."

"Oh really?" Caroline sniffed, putting on a fake British accent. "Do you think Elena and I would _possibly _meet those high standards?"

"But of course," Stefan smirked at her, "There's always more room for pretty girls."

Damon suddenly leapt over the sofa and plopped down next to Elena. He smirked at her startled expression before pointing sternly at Stefan, "You. No flirting with my woman."

Stefan pretended to look offended, but he ruined the illusion by laughing, "I can't say she's pretty?"

"Of course you can," Elena interrupted with a smug smile as she leaned over and kissed Damon on the lips. "So I'm 'your woman' now, huh?"

He tilted his head at her, "Why, Ms. Gilbert, I thought we'd already established that."

"Hmm," she murmured as his lips brushed hers again enticingly, "And what exactly does that entail?"

"A lot of this, for starters," Damon answered in a husky voice, moving in to deepen the kiss. Elena smiled against his lips as they both heard Stefan and Caroline begin teasing them goodnaturedly.

"For heaven's sakes," Stefan finally groaned, "Get a room!"

"As you wish, brother," Damon broke their kiss just long enough to scoop Elena up in his arms, chuckling as she squealed and looped her arms around his neck. "You two be good down here, now," he winked at Stefan and Caroline before hurrying up the stairs with Elena.

* * *

><p>He set her down on the bed gently and lay down beside her, smiling to himself as she immediately curled herself into his side. "So," he asked curiously, "Besides the fact that your school is getting a bunch of new state-of-the-art equipment, what else is different down there?"<p>

Elena rested her head against his shoulder as she contemplated, "Well, Ms. Starr has been fired, obviously. And the halls are a lot emptier without the football players...Also, they suspended the football coach. Something about suspicious behavior the night that Anna was killed."

"Matt and Tyler awaiting trial?"

She nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "I spoke to Matt a couple days ago," she informed him, and frowned when he shifted around to look at her in alarm. "Don't worry," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around his waist and snuggling into his chest. "I just wanted to break up with him. Officially."

"And how did he feel about that?"

She shrugged dismissively, "Said he'd been expecting it for weeks. He didn't seem too bothered, to be honest."

"His loss is my gain," Damon kissed the top of her head. "And how is Caroline doing with all this? You mentioned that she and Tyler sort of had a thing going on?"

Elena smiled contentedly and craned her neck upwards so that she could kiss him properly. "I think Stefan is doing a good job curing her heartbreak for now. We'll see what happens after the trial...Oh and by the way, I spoke with Jeremy earlier today. He told me they arrested Rose as an accessory to kidnapping."

"Good," Damon muttered, "Though Elijah will probably get her a good deal."

"Probably," she agreed, glancing up at him. "I'm still impressed with how Alaric sussed out that she was involved with all this." Damon's expression flickered with some emotion she couldn't identify, and Elena's brow furrowed. "Do you miss him? He took off so soon...I thought he'd stick around for the court trial, at least."

"He had to get back to his regular work," Damon answered, though he sounded distracted. "He pretty much dropped everything he was doing to come to Mystic Falls and help with this case."

Elena nodded in understanding, "He's a good guy."

"Speaking of his work..." Damon hesitated, "Do you remember I wanted to tell you something before? About how I had hired Alaric for another case?"

She sat up slightly as she noted his serious tone. "Yeah, I remember. What was it?"

"I hired him to look into Jeremy," Damon finally admitted, "Before I hired him to work at The Grill. Just...he had been arrested so many times for the drug use, and he was always in trouble with the cops...I wanted to make sure that his 'clean up act' was the real deal." He glanced at Elena and swallowed nervously when she wouldn't meet his gaze. "I'm sorry, Elena. I knew you'd be upset if you found out...but I had to be sure."

After a second, she sighed wearily, "It's okay, Damon. I know you were just trying to help. I get it."

He leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose, causing her to giggle and swat him away. "You are the most understanding girlfriend ever. How did I get so lucky?"

She smirked up at him, "Care to show me how lucky you feel?"

Damon didn't even bat an eyelid before rolling them both over so that he was hovering above her, "Elena Gilbert, are you trying to seduce me?"

"Depends," she drawled, "Is it working?"

"You tell me," he whispered before reaching down to brush his lips against hers. "Have I told you recently how much I love you?"

"You might've mentioned it once," Elena reached up to touch his face, "I don't know what I would've done these past few weeks without you. I can't believe it took a life threatening situation for me to realize how much I need you in my life...how much I love you." She blinked tears out of her eyes and peered up at him beseechingly, "Promise you'll never leave me?"

Damon kissed her long and hard, leaving them both gasping for air when he finally pulled away. "I promise."

* * *

><p><em>fin.<em>

* * *

><p><strong>*thanks for all the reviews! BTW I have a new TVD fic out! set post 3x22 (season 4 canon fic, DamonElena). Check it out ;)  
><strong>


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